


Hit It Off

by WhyAreAllUsernamesTaken



Series: We either make it, or break it. [4]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Han Jisung | Han is a Sweetheart, Lee Minho | Lee Know is a Sweetheart, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Violence, Physical Disability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-20 02:36:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 34,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20667902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhyAreAllUsernamesTaken/pseuds/WhyAreAllUsernamesTaken
Summary: Nobody likes the opening band.But Minho does.Well, maybe notreally.It's just that their drummer is hella cute.And to Minho, it doesn't matter that the boy's world is usually quiter than everyone else's.Minho is a goner for him anyways.





	1. Unfamiliar Things Make Us Nervous

**Author's Note:**

> This one shot was getting too long (currently at 27k+ words and counting) and so I decided to split it into two parts. The next part will be uploaded tomorrow, hopefully. It depends on what my insomnia will do tonight :]
> 
> First ever attempt at fluff because I need to learn to do that shit. But there will be some light angst because - as you may know by now - that's how I roll.
> 
> Enjoy!

"Uhhhg, why did I even let you drag me here this early!," 

Seungmin clearly wasn't pleased but Minho really didn't care. 

"Shut up and at least pretend you are a good friend," Minho replied as he dragged his friend through the crowd, trying to get as close to the stage as possible. 

It took a lot of effort to weave through the huge mass of bodies - especially since Seungmin wasn't being very cooperative, acting more like a lifeless sack of potatoes instead of an actual human being with two very functioning legs. 

"Excuse you? I am a great friend, thank you very much," Seungmin huffed out. 

Minho choose not to comment on that and he finally came to a stop, letting go of Seungmin's wrist as he stood on his toes to see if he could spot the rest of their friends.   
It was busy. Busier than normal but what did they expect? Exams were finally over so it was safe to say that everyone and their mother had flocked to this place. 

And that's why they were here, at the only club slash bar on campus. _Thursday party_, was what it was called. Very clever because Thursday night was THE night to go out, most students only having one or two afternoon classes on Friday. 

It was not that big but big enough to house about a quarter of the students living in the dorms if you crammed well enough. Probably against safety regulations if you asked Minho, but whatever. At least his student loan would get remitted if he were to die here, so what was the big deal? 

"You see anyone?," Minho let himself sink back on his feet and looked at Seungmin. 

"Nope," 

Seungmin rolled his eyes and Minho had to try his best to keep his mouth shut, “Told you they weren't going to show up this early. Nobody likes the opening band except you," 

Minho opened his mouth to protest, to tell Seungmin to look around him to prove that he wasn't the only one, but got cut off by a dismissive wave. 

"No sorry. Let me rephrase that. Nobody likes the opening band and neither do you, but you DO like their drummer very much," Seungmin said, obnoxiously wiggling his brows. 

Minho just glared at the younger, knowing from experience that things were only going to get worse if he responded. But the wiggling of the brows continued, combined with a few jabs with the elbow and Minho let out a sigh. 

"Why did I even tell you that," Minho groaned, more to himself than to the younger, as he ran his hand over his face ,"That was such a mistake," 

Seungmin laughed, obnoxiously loud like he did and gave Minho's shoulder a pat. "Dude, you didn't tell us anything. It was us who called you out because you're just being way too obvious," 

"Am not," Minho hissed back, feeling his face heat up. That only made the younger laugh harder and Minho wanted the ground to swallow him up. 

"Relax Minho. I think it's really cute," 

Minho could feel his face contort. 

It was not _cute_. It was annoying and a problem. 

It was definitely not cute if you asked his bank account, which had been at a steady low because he just could not stop himself from coming here every Thursday, or if you looked at his results from the previous exams, or when he made accidental eye-contact with the guy... It was not cute because, statistically, the odds were against Minho and the guy was probably very fucking straight. And that his group of friends seemed to beat the odds, Minho ignored that. 

Anyway, the list went on and on. 

"Stop frowning. It makes you ugly and drummer-boy is looking at you," 

Oh.

That got Minho to frown even more. He shot his head to the stage and indeed, the guy was looking at him from behind his drum set as he twirled one of his drumsticks with his fingers. And God, did that look hot. Especially with the guy wearing a white tank-top that complimented his tan skin. Combined with half-long, light blonde hair… It should have been illegal.

Minho quickly did a three-sixty to look at the people around him, checking if, maybe, the guy was familiar with someone around him but everyone was either turned away from the stage or looking on their phone. He turned back to the guy and their eyes met, confirming that he indeed had been looking at him. It was only then that he noticed that he had managed to put himself and Seungmin in a spot where one of the stage lights shone into the audience.

They stood out like a sore thumb.

Minho’s heart made a weird jump in his chest when said drummer seemed to giggle before looking away, a small smile left on his lips as he looked down and his hair covering his eyes. Minho was stunned and wondered how someone could look so much like a wet dream and so incredibly adorable at the same time. And for self-preservation, Minho convinced himself he wasn’t trying to imagine what the guy sounded like when he talked or giggled or… whatever. 

Minho knew he was screwed. He had known it for a while now. Actually, he had known it from the first time he had tagged along with Seungmin to see the main act - some kind of indie slash rock band that the younger was obsessed with. They had arrived way too early because they had been bored and figured that they’d give the opening band just one little chance. Minho had been star-struck when a very adorable guy with puffy cheeks and blonde hair had taken place behind the drums, going off for a solid thirty minutes before shyly shuffling off stage.

It had been in class, the next day, when Minho realised he hadn’t really stopped thinking about how the guy had looked with his low-cut shirt stuck to his body and loose strands of golden hair all over the place. 

"You're red," A voice from his right suddenly said.

That was enough for Minho to snap out if it and he turned to his right, Chan and Woojin looking at him with knowing smiles and Minho really wanted to wipe those of their faces for them. Preferably with his fists.

‘’So… You asked him out yet?,’’ Woojin continued as he slung his arm over Chan’s shoulders.

Before Minho could even come up with some kind of sassy remark, the light’s dimmed. His attention got pulled to the stage and the guy shot him a look again before their first song started.

What happened the rest of the evening, Minho didn’t really know. Like always, he had been too busy yelling at himself to not look at the guy, to just focus on the band as a whole, which obviously resulted in him looking at the guy even more because that’s just how it worked.

Staring.

That’s what it was.

He had just been plain staring at the guy until they were done and he had spaced out for the next two hours until everything was over and the place returned to being a normal club.

{*}

It was the next week that Minho found himself back at Thursday Party and everything had been the same as every week. However, now that Minho was fuelled by alcohol - his friends long lost in the crowd of people moving on the beat of the thumping base - he thought that maybe it was time for him to just look for the guy. He had been withering away for weeks and, unlike he had hoped, his feelings were only growing stronger and stronger. It was stupid and new and a bit scary but he was done being stuck.

He stumbled through the club, somehow ending up taking even more shots. Who was Minho to turn down free alcohol right? He was a law student for god’s sakes. Those shy-high student loans weren’t going to pay themselves so he didn’t have a lot of money to spare.

It was after a full nineteen minutes that he gave up. The place was spinning and the nausea was starting to creep up on him, rendering him almost useless in his endeavour.

‘’Dude, you okay?,’’

Minho looked up from where he had been staring at the floor, apparently, and saw Changbin, who he could call no more but an acquaintance. He knew that the guy was in Criminal Statistics Adv2 with him but that class was huge so he had barely ever spoken to the guy.

‘’You don’t look so hot,’’ Changbin continued, gripping Minho’s arm as soon as the he stumbled.

‘’You’re not my type either,’’ Minho managed to slur back.

Okay, now the room was _really_ spinning.

From experience, Minho knew he could, technically, handle himself so he just waved his hand, ‘’I’m fine. Thanks. I got it under control,’’

Changbin gave him a suspicious look, his mouth opening to say something but before he could, he got pulled away by a girl, leaving Minho on his own again. 

He figured it was time to go home. Luckily for him, he was one of the few that actually got accepted into the dorms so it would take him only ten minutes to get to his bed if he did his best. So Minho pushed body after body aside as he tried to get to the exit. It went smoother than he had expected, but when he looked at his phone to send Seungmin a quick text that he was going home, he saw that it was already way past four in the morning. No wonder that the club was relatively empty.

He finally found his way out and he was surprised to see that it was raining. No one told him that it was going to be raining. He hated rain.

‘’Fucking hell…,’’ he groaned.

He had no coat and most definitely no umbrella. It was almost summer and already way too warm for this time of year, so why would he?

Five minutes into his walk - or stumble - home, he was already drenched. His T-shirt did nothing other than soak up the water and make every step he was taking even more difficult. His jeans clung to his legs and it felt disgusting. The only thing that didn’t suck right now was that building B, where his dorm was located, finally came into sight.

It was strangely busy around campus, but that wasn’t all _that_ weird for a Friday morning. Most of the people he saw were hella drunk and being dragged around by their sober friends, leaving Minho grinning at the sight. He probably didn’t look any better but that wasn’t the point.

In a rather sober moment, Minho wondered how long it had been raining and if drummer boy had made it home - wherever that was for him - okay. Minho always stayed the whole night but he had never seen the guy around afterwards, making him think that said guy was probably way better at adulting than Minho was and actually went to bed at a decent time. Well, maybe not that but Minho liked to think that the guy wasn’t one of those people who went crazy every week, getting drunk and laid right and left.

Minho was one of those people. Maybe not really, but he was close.

While stuck in his thoughts, he had managed to make it into the building and up to the fifth floor but he could feel his body was starting to give up on him. The lights in the hallway were too damn bright for his drunken ass, making his head pound and vision swim even more. He tried, he really tried to get down the hall and to his dorm but he never made it past room five-fourteen. Minho decided that he just couldn’t move anymore so he just sat down, his back against the wall. The grey tiles under him were cold but that was okay, it kept his mind somewhat sharp and alert.

Minho told himself that he just needed a few minutes to regain whatever he was missing to get to his own room, so he closed his eyes and breathed - slowly - in and out through his nose in an attempt to push the nausea down.

‘’What the… You alive there?,’’

Minho knew the question was directed at him but didn’t even bother to open his eyes as he shook his head, the action causing the nausea to grow worse and a groan left his lips.

There was a little chuckle and Minho wanted to kill whoever found his death entertaining. It wasn’t funny. However, he stayed still and hoped the guy would continue his way soon and leave him to his own business.

‘’Seriously, you okay? You need me to call someone or something? Maybe that guy that you’re always with at Thursday party?,’’ 

Minho opened his eyes at the sudden worried tone and had to do a double check as soon as his eyes landed on the figure crouched down in front of him. He was drunk but not _that_ drunk right? Did he get drugged? What if those shots from those random strangers had been spiked with something?

Drummer-boy was definitely not in front of him right now, his brows furrowed in concern. That would just be too cliché.

‘’Hey, please say something,’’ 

He didn’t sound how Minho had expected at all. He had assumed that, somehow, his voice had been lower than it actually was but now that he heard it, it seemed to suit the guy better than whatever he had imagined. It was soft - airy - but with a pleasant bass hidden underneath it all. There was an undertone of playfulness and it intrigued Minho.

The look on the boy’s face told Minho that he was confused and maybe a bit worried, but that was probably just his imagination.

He looked so cute though. The tank-top from hours ago had been replaced by an oversized hoodie with a dark galaxy print, big letters on the front spelling ‘’NASA’’. And if the boy’s sweater-paws weren’t enough to kill Minho right then and there, he was wearing the most adorable pair of glasses, those thinly-wired round ones that always managed to end Minho.

‘’Seriously. I’m getting really worried here!,’’

Those pretty dark-brown eyes grew even wider than they had already been and Minho was helplessly drowning, ignoring the faint look of panic in the boy’s eyes. 

God was he pretty. Minho was doomed.

It was when a gentle hand landed on his shoulder that Minho realised he hadn’t replied to the guy, that probably being the reason the boy was lowkey freaking out and shuffling forward to place his hands on Minho’s cheeks before leaning closer.

Electricity shot up Minho’s spine at the contact and he suddenly forgot how to breathe. He saw the guy scanning his face and Minho did catch how he furrowed his brows again.

‘’Do you hear me? Can you please just say something?!,’’

Minho knew that he was freaking the boy out so he forced himself to snap out of it ,’’Yeah, sorry,’’

As soon as the words had left his mouth, the guy let out a long sigh and visibly deflated, his hands slipping away from Minho’s face as he placed his head on his knees. Minho’s heart swelled at the sight, the way the boy looked so… tiny and adorable was just too much. It was too much right now. He was too drunk for this.

After a few painfully quiet seconds, the boy looked back up and his eyes narrowed.

‘’For a second I thought I had to call an ambulance or something,’’ He huffed out.

And Minho couldn’t help but laugh. The whole situation was just so damn ridiculous and he really couldn’t think straight. 

No pun intended.

The boy seemed to be displeased by his reaction and he pouted as he crossed his arms.

‘’You’re freaking cute,’’ Minho replied.

Minho hadn’t expected the guy to shoot up but he did and it left Minho staring up at him.

‘’Excuse me?,’’ The guy squeaked out, ‘’How drunk are you?,’’

Minho shrugged, not really bothered by the fact that his mouth seemed to have a life of its own. It was probably the alcohol in his system that was doing its thing. Unlike popular believe, Minho wasn’t much of a flirt. Sure, he did have the occasional hook-up and a resting bitch-face but that didn’t mean that he was some kind of fuckboy or something. He was an actual, somewhat decent, human being with actual feelings. He got embarrassed and nervous just as much as any other person.

However, drunk Minho _was_ very much of a flirt.

‘’Very, but not enough to cloud my judgement. You looked really hot on stage last night, by the way,’’ Minho couldn’t help but grin as the guy in front of him flushed red.

‘’O-okay mister, I think you need to go to bed or something,’’

That’s when Minho noticed how tired he was. 

‘’I should,’’ He deadpanned but he made no attempt to get up and just continued to stare up at the guy.

Another couple of silent seconds ticked by with the both of them just staring at each other. Minho knew that he had to move at some point but he was pretty sure he wasn’t stable enough. He came to the conclusion he couldn’t do that on his own. So with that realisation, he shot his best puppy-eyes at the guy staring down on him.

‘’What?,’’ the guy replied, his features morphing into disbelieve, ‘’I’m not going to haul a stranger around if that’s what you’re asking,’’

Minho had to admit that it hurt a tiny bit to get called 'a stranger' when he was aware that the guy knew him, sort of, ‘I’m not a stranger, you know me,’’

‘’Well… yeah, but no? Like, not really?,’’ The guy stuttered, his hands waving around as he did.

That was true, but Minho had hoped that the glances at each other for weeks had upgraded him to at least something more.

Minho had finally come to terms that whatever they had going on during the boy’s performances was weird. The first few times it had happened, Minho had been convinced that it was just wishful thinking on his part, but after weeks and weeks it became clear to Minho that he wasn’t crazy.

The guy really did scan the audience as soon as he sat behind the drums. The guy really did stop scanning as soon as his eyes found Minho’s. The guy really did smile brightly every time they made eye-contact before looking back down.

Minho wasn’t crazy.

The rest of his friends had told him that as well, so sure that the guy at least seemed interested enough to seek him out in the mass of people. Felix had yelled the loudest when it had become the topic of conversation during their weekly game-night. How they had gotten there, Minho couldn’t remember, but what he did remember was that the freckled boy had screamed at him to just go talk to the guy. Minho had been adamant, finding it highly unlikely it would lead to anything at all.

_‘’Hyung, I’m fairly certain he kinda likes you as well. I once legit caught him staring at you as he walked off stage. The poor dude almost tripped over his own feet,’’_ Hyunjin had added.

Minho had never followed up on it.

‘’Lee Minho,’’ 

The guy rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms before crouching down in front of him again, ‘’I know that, but I don’t really _know_ you. You get my point?,’’

Another wave of nausea hit Minho and he knew he had to get to his room if he didn’t want to end up being _that_ guy that puked in the hallway of the fifth floor of dorm building B. It was more on instinct that anything else when Minho softly pushed the guy away, resulting in said guy losing his balance and rock backwards. 

‘’The hell dude,’’ he huffed out, now sitting on the floor and looking at Minho with wide eyes.

Minho wasn’t really listening anymore. He heaved himself off the floor and used the wall he had been sitting against to steady himself.

‘’Was fun, bye,’’ He managed to mutter.

He was never going to drink again.

Somehow he got a few steps forward before his vision swam again. Granted, he almost tripped over his own feet if it weren’t for the sudden arm around his waist. Minho felt a head sneak under his arm and he looked to his left.

‘’If you puke on me you’re dead, _capice_?,’’ The boy hissed as he looked ahead and adjusted Minho’s arm which was now swung over his shoulders.

The boy was really amusing. He looked so soft but from their short and limited conversation Minho figured that he was someone that could hold his ground and was probably too freaking stubborn. He gave off the vibe of one of those people that were way too kind but could be god damn scary at the same time. Probably very passive-aggressive.

‘’Which one is you?,’’ The boy followed up as he pointed down the hallway, ‘’If this is even your floor at all… Moreover, do you even stay here in the dorms? And did you take a shower with your clothes on or something?,’’

Minho was well aware that he was staring at the slightly shorter boy and that said boy had probably noticed - if the slight blush that had made it to his cheeks was anything to go by - but he didn’t bother to look away.

The boy readjusted his hold on Minho again and pressed him closer. It was then that a wave of lavender hit Minho’s nose. The guy was probably already weirded out anyway so what did he have to lose?

‘’You smell nice,’’

The grip on his arm tightened, ‘’Just answer the damn question,’’ 

Passive-aggressive for sure.

‘’Five twenty-two,’’

They didn’t talk any more after that. Minho was aware that the boy was struggling enough with just dragging him to his dorm and didn’t want to bother him more. From his expression, Minho could see that the boy wasn’t very amused with the situation but he tried to ignore it. Before he knew it, they stood in front of his room and the boy was already going through Minho’s pockets to look for a key, not even bothering to ask. It threw Minho a bit off but he didn’t mind it in the slightest.

The pair of keys were found and Minho almost cooed at the sight of the boy trying to pry it in the lock while huffing as he tried to keep Minho up. After a minute of trying, the boy managed to open the door before turning to Minho again.

‘’Can you stand up by yourself?,’’

Minho nodded as he suddenly felt a bit guilty. The boy probably had better things to do than to put up with his drunken ass.

‘’Good…,’’ and with that, the boy let his arm drop from his waist and shrugged Minho’s arm off of his shoulder.

He was about to turn to leave but before he got the chance to even take one step, Minho’s arm shot out and took a hold of the guy’s wrist. He could feel the guy tense a bit before he turned back around to face Minho.

It was only now that Minho saw the slight shadow under the boy’s eyes. It dawned on him that it wasn’t really normal to be awake at this time and that the boy was probably tired. Still, he had been too kind to just leave him to deal with himself and that made Minho feel like he had, somehow, taken advantage of the boy’s kindness. If only he hadn’t been so lazy, the guy hadn’t have to waste so much energy on him.

‘’Thanks, really,’’ Minho slurred as he looked at his hand wrapped around the guy’s wrist, ‘’I’m sorry for bothering you,’’

He could hear the other sigh and a soft hand landed on top of the hand he had latched to the guy. That prompted him to look up at the guy.

‘’It’s okay. Just… take better care of yourself okay?,’’

And that blinding smile on the guys face sent Minho reeling. He was so bright, so warm that Minho suddenly felt like he was a poor excuse of a human being, ‘’Yeah, sorry,’’

His hand got patted and Minho let go, suddenly embarrassed by his previous action. The guy seemed to think about something as they stared at each other.

‘’Han Jisung,’’ The boy spoke up, flashing a small smile before turning around and quickly walking away.

‘’Han Jisung…,’’ Minho muttered to himself as he stepped into his dorm and closed the door behind him.

His heart did another weird jump and suddenly he felt a bit jittery. Not bad per se, but not comfortable either. He shook his head before he waddled his way over to his bed, slowly stripping out of his damp clothes before slipping under the sheets. And it was when he was replaying his encounter with Jisung that his heart sped up.

‘’Lee Minho,’’ 

‘’I know that, but I don’t really know you. You get my point?,’’

Jisung had already known his name?

{*}

When Minho woke up the next day, he had slept through his alarms and missed his afternoon class. However, he couldn’t really find it in himself to care. His head hurt and it felt as if he had been run over by a truck, so doing an extra assignment because he had missed a lecture was the least of his worries.

He somehow managed to get himself out of bed and to the fridge without crumbling to the floor. He really couldn’t remember the last time he had felt this hammered and as he forced himself to eat some ramen, he swore he would never drink again.

It wasn’t until it was way past five than Minho decided to check his phone, having it turned off before going to sleep because he knew that the group chat was probably littered with half-drunken messages about the most stupidest topics. 

As soon as he opened the chat, he saw that he had been right. There were some messages from Seungmin asking where everybody was, a few incoherent sentences from Felix thrown in and to top it off, Chan had gone off and spammed the chat with millions of voice messages – none of them making any sense because his voice was drowned out by insanely loud music.

Just as Minho put down his phone, his head started throbbing even worse than before and he decided to revert to painkillers. After all, tonight was their ‘game night’ and he was sure he wasn’t going to survive if he didn’t drug himself up.

It was a few hours later that the chat came alive again – a sign that no one was dead and mostly over their hangover. Minho was very comfortable on his bed, watching this random documentary about a tribe in Africa solely consisting woman, but Woojin demanded that they came over as soon as possible. Why? Minho didn’t really know but because he was such a good friend he shot a message back, saying that he’d be there in ten minutes.

Woojin had started rooming with Chan three years ago when they’d just started collage. Apparently, the two had gone to high school together and had stuck together as soon as they had ran into each other during orientation. They started dating a few months after that and they’d been going strong for three years now.

A year later, Minho started his first year. He didn’t particularly tried to make friends, didn’t _really_ need them. After all, he was here to get a degree. However, after he had run into Chan during a international project-week at college it had all changed. One thing had led to another and they had grown closer. 

It had been just him, Chan and Woojin in the beginning but this school year they had grown from three to four, from four to five and then when Felix joined in, six. Minho suddenly had a whole group of friends and a set plan for Friday-evenings. It was a bit uncomfortable at first – Minho not being used to such a large group of friends - but it was nice. Minho couldn’t really remember how they came to be, only that Chan had been the one to gather them all.

_‘’He’s just gotta catch them all,’’_ Felix had once remarked.

It really felt like Chan had to. They were an odd group with people from different majors and ages.

Chan and Woojin were born in ninety-seven and were both in their third year in performing arts, Hyunjin was currently stuck in his first year of social studies with dance on the side, Felix was also a first-year and did business-management and no one really understood why because the boy hated just about everything about it, Seungmin was also one of the first-years and did literature stuff and Minho was currently in his second year, struggling to keep his grades okay because he had so stupidly thought it was a nice idea to study law. 

It was an odd combination, to be honest, but somehow it worked. 

Friday night game-night had been a tradition from the very beginning because they rarely got a chance to hang out, with everyone being in different majors and all. Minho had been apprehensive at first because he was a bit more of a party-kinda-guy but he soon found it very enjoyable. The mood was always very laid back and comfortable and did wonders to de-stress. To Minho’s pleasant surprise, everyone was down to party as well, meaning that he now had buddies to go to the club with and to be honest, it was _so_ much better than going there alone.

There was another text from Woojin, telling everyone to bring something to snack on or else they wouldn’t be allowed inside. Minho had made that mistake once and he really had been sent away and told he’d only get in if he’s get something to eat.

So he heaved himself off the bed and walked to the kitchen. Even though he knew he didn’t have anything - except for eggs, milk and ramen – he dug through the cabinets. As expected, there was nothing there.

He groaned as he now had the task to stop by the supermarket to get something. He pulled out his phone as he made his way to the shower and shot another message back, informing everyone that he’d be delayed before putting the thing away and turning on the shower. This morning when he woke up, he hadn’t bothered to shower. He pitied himself too much and gave in to the hangover. 

He stripped himself of his clothes and stepped under shower. The warm water cascading down on him did wonders and he already felt a hundred percent better. And like one does in the shower, his mind wandered off. Now that he was almost completely sober, he facepalmed himself as he thought back on his first official meeting with drummer-boy, aka, Han Jisung.

God had he been acting stupid.

Sure, Jisung would have probably seen enough drunk people in his life but the fact that Minho actually had a crush on the boy made it seem like such a big problem. Way to make a good first impression.

But the embarrassment soon disappeared to make place for that weird feeling in his stomach as Jisung’s face flashed before him. Everything about him was either cute or sexy and Minho was not sure how he was going to ignore whatever he was feeling. He had really tried to ignore it but instead of him moving on, he had found himself stuck and falling deeper and deeper into whatever Jisung was.

He was really, really screwed.

{*}

It was a little short of a week later that Minho found himself back at _Thursday party_, all on his own because everyone had ditched him for various reasons. Hence him standing around like an awkward potato as he waited for Jisung and the rest to enter the stage.

Minho was nervous. Like, really nervous.

He had promised everyone and himself that he would talk to Jisung tonight. Well, it wasn’t so much as a promise but more a dare. Game night had gone wonderful until Seungmin had dared him to finally act on this crush he had and even though it terrified Minho, he always kept his promises.

Maybe not always, but he tried.

As he waited, he kept repeating what to say in his head, letting it play like a recorded tape over and over again. It wasn’t until Jisung stepped on stage that his thoughts came to a grinding halt.

He looked effortlessly good as Minho had come to expect, dressed in a pair of skin-tight jeans - which consisted more of holes than fabric - combined with a simple over-sized, white t-shirt. This time, instead of taking place behind the drums, he kept standing as he looked into the crowd. Like always, their eyes met and Minho almost melted as Jisung smiled and threw him a little wave before sitting down.

Throughout their performance, Minho kept catching Jisung’s eye and whenever it did, the corners of Jisung’s lips lifted ever so slightly before he looked away. 

Minho zoned out, his vision narrowing and the world around him going silent as he kept looking at Jisung. Staring, actually.

A little tap on his shoulder snapped him out of whatever trance he was in and he looked to his left. A girl around his height and with long dark-brown hair was smiling at him. Minho dug in his head to figure out who this girl was but it came up blank.

‘’You here alone?,’’ The girl screamed at him, her voice just audible over the music.

Great.

Minho had to try his best not to roll his eyes at the worst pick-up line ever. Seriously, did the girl not get that it was so outdated?

‘’I am. So what?,’’ He yelled back.

The girl’s eyes narrowed and Minho knew she wasn’t really happy with his response but he didn’t care. 

He looked back at the stage and he saw Jisung looking at him, his mouth set in a straight line. Minho had no time to dwell on it as he suddenly felt a hand on his upper-arm. He let out a sigh and looked back to the girl. 

‘’You wanna get out of here?,’’ She asked.

Minho thought he had been clear but this stupid girl clearly chose to ignore the memo. So with that, Minho smiled back at the girl as he pushed her hand off his arm, ‘’I’m not interested darling. Go find someone else to sweettalk into sleeping with you,’’

The girl’s expression was priceless but Minho found it in him not to laugh. The girl’s eyes narrowed and Minho could hear a little ‘’asshole’’ before she pushed her way through the crowd.

Minho figured she was probably quite new at college. It was not a secret than Minho wasn’t interested in girls, he never really tried to hide it, so if the girl didn’t know, she was probably a newbie or lived under a rock.

Suddenly people were clapping and whistling around him and without thinking much, he followed. It was only when he looked back at the stage that he figured out that the band was done. Jisung was already gone and Minho panicked. He had forgotten that he was supposed to talk to him and now that he wasn’t in sight, Minho didn’t know if Jisung was going to hang around for a bit or leave straight away. Minho knew he had to get backstage as soon as possible if he wanted to catch Jisung.

So without thinking much, Minho wormed his way through the crowd to get to the little door at the stairs next to the stage. It took him a full two minutes before he reached the door and pushed it open, ignoring the _’staff only’_ sign. If actual staff would catch him he could always pretend to be drunk and looking for the bathroom or something. He slipped inside and let the door fall shut behind him. The little hallway was dark but still lit enough for Minho to see where he was walking. Fortunately for him, there was only one way to go and only three doors, one of them reading _’Performers’_.

That was easy.

But then the difficult part came. Knocking.

He stood there, not really knowing what he was going to do once the door opened. He had suddenly forgotten everything he wanted to say to Jisung and that left him feeling vulnerable and totally not ready. Fate decided to help him and the door suddenly swung open, revealing a tall looking guy with a buzzcut. Minho recognized him as being the lead guitar of the band.

The guy looked confused but smiled anyways.

‘’Can I help you?,’’ He asked, leaning against the doorframe.

Minho took a deep breath and decided he had to get it together if he wanted to get anywhere.

‘’I’m actually looking for Jisung?,’’ He managed to reply, his heart going a million miles an hour.

The guy kept smiling and Minho felt his eyes scanning him. It was highly uncomfortable and he wondered what the deal was with this guy.

‘’I see… I assume you’re Minho?,’’ The guy smirked, ‘’He just left but if you take the back door you would be able to catch up with him,’’

He pointed to a door - which Minho assumed was the mentioned backdoor – before he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. There was a pat on Minho’s shoulder and like that, the guy stalked off.

There was no time to be confused so Minho pushed it to the back of his mind as he hurried down the hall and out the backdoor. As soon as he stepped outside he saw a figure rounding the corner and out of the little alleyway. It was dark but he had seen that the person had blonde hair. He assumed it was Jisung and took a little sprint and after he stepped around the corner, he saw he had been right. Jisung was walking a few steps in front of him, headphones in and a shabby windbreaker wrapped around him. Minho didn’t think twice as he closed the gap and took a hold of Jisung’s arm.

Apparently not the best way to approach someone walking down the streets. Alone. At night.

Jisung let out a shriek and turned around as fast a lightning, causing his headphones to fall to the ground, his free hand already balled into a fist and arm slightly pulled back. Minho realised he was about to get punched and he let go of Jisung’s arm and took a hurried step back, his hands flying up on instinct.

‘’It’s me! It’s just me!,’’ Minho yelled, ‘’Minho!,’’

Jisung stilled at that and his eyes grew wide, narrowing again before he took a step forward and punched Minho in the arm, a bit too hard in Minho’s opinion.

‘’You motherfucker!,’’ Jisung yelled back, continuing throwing light punches at Minho, ‘’You scared the hell outta me!,’’

And even though his arm hurt a bit, he didn’t say anything about it and just laughed. He laughed his ass off even though he knew he probably caused Jisung to - almost - have a heart attack.

Jisung finally stopped his punches and settled on gripping Minho’s sleeve. 

‘’It’s not funny! Stop laughing,’’ Jisung hissed at him.

But Minho couldn’t stop. Maybe it was the nerves, maybe the fact that Jisung’s shriek replayed over and over in his head or maybe it was because he hadn’t pegged for Jisung to be the swearing-type. 

‘’No, really. Please stop laughing. I don’t find it funny,’’ Jisung pleaded and his expression changed from anger to… something else.

It was when Minho recognized the underlying fear in Jisung’s eyes that the laughter stopped, making way for something unsettling. He couldn’t name what it was but it didn’t feel good.

‘’I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,’’ He spoke up, slightly worried and confused about Jisung’s reaction.

Jisung just nodded and let go of Minho’s sleeve before running a hand over his face and letting out a sigh. He moved to pick up his headphones and fished his phone out of his pocket, wrapping his headphones around them before stuffing the whole package back into his pocket.

‘’Did you survive last week?,’’ Jisung suddenly asked, no trace of the previous panic left, looking all smug as he leaned into the wall next to him.

Minho scoffed, ‘’Yeah, kinda? I mean, I’m not dead right?,’’

That sounded so lame in Minho’s ears but that was quickly forgotten as Jisung giggled at that, his eyes lighting up. It was with the positive response that Minho relaxed a bit. Jisung thought he was funny. That was good, right?

‘’Well, that depends on how you define ‘dead’. From a biological standpoint I can see that you are alive. Unless you are a zombie, but then again, are they alive or dead? Anyways, from a psychological standpoint I wouldn’t know. We could also get into the whole spiritual things of life but I don’t really think you’d be interested in that. Unless you are, that’s okay. I mean, I don’t really believe in that but I don’t want to judge or anything,’’ Jisung rambled, sounding almost out of breath at the end of it.

‘’My god,’’ Minho replied as he ran a hand over his face. If this how Jisung was he was in for a lot. It became more and more clear how different they were. Not that he minded though, ‘’You major in philosophy or something?,’’

‘’Close,’’ Jisung replied as he pushed himself off the wall, ‘’Psychology. First year. But it does involve ethics and philosophy so I guess you were about… twenty percent right? Actually way less but I’m in a good mood,’’

First year.

So Jisung was at least a year younger than him.

There was a playful glint in Jisung’s eyes and Minho just couldn’t help but play along, ‘’Thank you for your generosity, kind sir,’’ Minho replied as he bowed.

It was when Jisung full on laughed that he looked back up, seeing Jisung’s eyes sparkle and Minho felt himself smile.

The laughter died down and after a few seconds of silence, Jisung suddenly stepped closer and hooked his arm around Minho’s, stepping next to his side. To say that Minho was baffled was an understatement. He could feel his muscles tense and his heartbeat pick up. He looked to the side and was met by Jisung beaming at him and Minho was sure that Jisung was going to be the death of him.

Without another word, Jisung started dragging Minho forward towards the dorm buildings. It took a few seconds for Minho to process what was going on, but he figured that he was now walking Jisung back to his dorm?

They settled on a comfortable pace, Minho lazily strolling next to Jisung. It was a bit chilly, but now that Jisung was stuck to his side with their arms linked, Minho was on fire. The younger was just a few centimetres shorter but that seemed to make them a perfect fit, like they were meant to fit into each other. 

‘’So, what are you doing here?,’’ Jisung spoke up after a minute or so.

‘’Just hanging out I guess,’’ Minho responded with a shrug.

‘’No, like, what are you doing _here_?,’’ Jisung said, his arm tightening around Minho’s. 

Oh.

Oooooh.

What was he doing, _here_?

Minho knew damn well what he was doing here but he didn’t know how to put it into words. However, he did feel comfortable. It was as if he had hung out with Jisung before and the sense of familiarity pushed away the nervousness he had felt before. He could totally do this. He could totally ignore the way his heart wanted to beat right out of his chest. No biggie. 

‘’I just wanted to talk to you,’’ Minho replied as he looked at Jisung.

A giggle left Jisung’s lips and he looked back at Minho, ‘’Care to inform me about what you wanted to talk about?,’’

Minho had made up his mind. Jisung’s giggles were the best thing he had ever heard.

They crossed the street as Minho tried to gather his thoughts, contemplating about how he was going to tell Jisung that he wanted to get to know him without sounding desperate or like a creep. But nothing sounded right, all way too indirect and vague and Minho decided to throw caution into the wind and go for it.

‘’Nothing much. Just wanted to know if you’d want to hang out sometime?,’’

There was a little squeeze around his arm, fingers softly digging into his muscle right where Jisung had attached himself to him. Their pace slowed down as they reached the dorm and Jisung made no move to let go of Minho’s arm when they came to a stop. They were now standing in front of dorm building B and Minho wondered if Jisung had actually walked him to his dorm instead of the other way around. He glanced back to his side and saw that playful glint in Jisung’s eyes again.

‘’Depends if you’re going to be sober or not. I _do not_ want to repeat last week,’’ Jisung deadpanned.

‘’Oh trust me, I don’t want to repeat that either,’’ Minho groaned back.

Jisung grinned and gave a little nod before he started dragging Minho again, moving to get inside the building. It was quiet inside, most people probably asleep or out. Luckily it was a bit warmer inside and Minho could feel Jisung’s muscles relax a bit, probably after they had tensed in an attempt to hold on to any warmth. Seriously, what was he thinking, wearing just a sleazy piece of fabric at night? Sure, it was summer and last week the nights had been quite warm but it still fluctuated a lot. 

There fell a comfortable silence as they got into the elevator, Jisung still not making a move to stop playing koala, even if they struggled to get into the metal box. Before Minho could even ask if Jisung was staying in this dorm or just dropping Minho off at home, Jisung punched in the number three. 

Question answered? Or Jisung was just forgetful and didn’t remember that Minho lived on the fifth floor? but he quickly dismissed that. After all, Jisung seemed like a person that payed attention, based on the fact that when they first ‘met’, Jisung knew that Minho always showed up with Seungmin.

The doors of the elevator opened on the third floor and for once, Minho was the one to drag Jisung out, ‘’What number?,’’

‘’Make an educated guess,’’ Jisung replied.

‘’How the hell am I supposed to make an educated guess, Jisung? There are over thirty rooms on one floor,’’

‘’I’ll give you a hint: Think about your own room number,’’

‘’Wait… are you kidding? You're room 322?,’’

‘’Nope,’’

‘’Well, then how is my room number supposed to be a hint?,’’

‘’Okay, another hint,’’ Jisung snickered, ‘’It’s the square root of a hundred-nine thousand, five hundred and sixty-one,’’

Wow.

‘’You are so weird, do you know that?,’’ Minho deadpanned.

This didn’t really get him the response he had been fishing for or anticipated. Instead of Jisung giving some kind of sassy remark back, giggling, the boy slowly detached himself from Minho’s arm and gave him a crooked smile.

‘’I know. I’m sorry,’’ Jisung replied, giving Minho another smile that didn’t seem very genuine to him.

That raised some concern. By now, Minho had figured that Jisung was a cheeky one, playful and witty and he slightly panicked, thinking he had done something wrong.

‘’No no, you don’t need to say sorry!,’’ Minho rambled, ‘’I think it’s cute,’’

Jisung’s eyes grew wider and Minho saw a faint trace of red on his cheeks. 

And then Jisung was beaming again, ‘’You’re pretty weird yourself, Lee Minho,’’

Minho scoffed, albeit a bit too happy as it seemed that Jisung was back to being himself again. Well, what Minho _assumed_ was himself.

‘’I’m free on Fridays…,’’ The younger followed up as he attached himself back to Minho’s arm.

They began walking again and turned right at the end of the corridor, coming to a stop in front of the only door in the little space. Jisung let go of Minho’s arm and reverted to leaning against the door and Minho could see him biting his lip. Probably a nervous habit and it made his heart flutter.

‘’Usually I have this game-night with my friends on Friday but you’re welcome to join sometime? Like next week or something? I think we are scheduled to finally get to learning how to play Dungeons and Dragons,’’

And as soon as Minho had said that, he was scared that Jisung would find it lame. After all, most people did when Minho explained that their game-night meant mafia, monopoly, cards against humanity and _those_ kinds of things – maybe hide and seek if they were drunk enough - instead of Call Of Duty and Assassins’ Greed. Luckily, Jisung seemed to perk up at the idea.

‘’That sounds awesome!,’’ Jisung almost screamed - making Minho light up - before suddenly deflating, ‘’Ehhh… I don’t know about that. Wouldn’t your friends mind if I showed up?,’’

Minho couldn’t help but smile at Jisung’s enthusiasm, ‘’I’m sure they don’t. Really. They are all about ‘the more the merrier’ so they’d really wouldn’t mind,’’

Jisung seemed to get lost in thought as he stared at Minho.

‘’So, you down for that?,’’ He asked in an attempt to get Jisung to focus.

It worked, Jisung now blinking and straightening up.

‘’Sure!,’’ He replied before stepping closer - _too close_ for Minho’s comfort. And it was safe to say that It came as a shock to Minho when Jisung stood on his tippy-toes and threw his arms around Minho’s neck, pulling him in for a hug.

Minho did not know what to do, leaving his arms hanging next to him awkwardly and his back slightly bend as Jisung practically hung off of him. Minho sucked in a sharp breath and he was sure that his heart was going to rip itself out of his chest if Jisung didn’t let go soon. But Minho was well aware that Jisung probably noticed that he was baffled, so he quickly forced himself to refocus and hugged Jisung back. And as soon as he wrapped his arms around Jisung’s waist, he could feel the younger relax. 

‘’Thanks,’’ Jisung whispered next to Minho’s ear and it sounded so genuine that Minho couldn’t stop himself from smiling and pulling the younger a bit closer.

{*}

Minho didn’t see Jisung at all the rest of the week. But that didn’t really matter because they had been texting back and forth ever since last Thursday night. Or Friday morning, depending on how you saw it.

It had all started when Jisung had finally let him go after a few seconds, asking for Minho’s phone number before wishing him goodnight and disappearing into his dorm. Minho had not even reached his own floor yet when Jisung had texted him, saying sorry for practically forcing Minho to walk him to his dorm and thanking him for inviting him to hang out.

It was now Tuesday and Minho was in the cafeteria with Hyunjin, eating lunch. He had asked Jisung if he wanted to join him but Jisung had messaged back, saying that he was stuck in the library because of some presentation and really didn’t have time for lunch. Minho had decided not to bother him any longer, but that had all gone down the drain when not even fifteen minutes later, Jisung had started to spam him with funny animal video’s.

‘’You look like an idiot,’’ Hyunjin stated, his words slightly muffled by the food in his mouth.

Minho looked up from his phone and it was only then that he noticed he was smiling widely. 

‘’Is it Jisung?,’’

Minho squinted his eyes, trying to convey to Hyunjin that he wouldn’t appreciate any jokes and nodded before looking back at his phone. He could hear Hyunjin laugh but the guy fortunately didn’t say anything.

He ignored the dancer sitting in front of him as Jisung texted that he was dying from boredom and hunger. Minho made up his mind quickly and shot up, Hyunjin shooting him a confused look as Minho gathered his stuff, haphazardly throwing everything into his backpack.

‘’And where are you running off to? I’m not even finished yet, lover boy,’’

Minho hissed at him like an angry cat – literally - and slung his backpack over his shoulder, ‘’None of your business. See you later,’’

He walked off, hearing Hyunjin yell something along the lines of ‘’Say hi to Jisung for me’’ right before he made it out of the cafeteria. 

The library was almost on the other side of campus but Minho didn’t mind the walk. The weather was really nice today and he soaked up the sun as soon as he stepped outside. It was warm enough to walk outside without a jacket, which was quite funny when he thought back on last week when he and Jisung had almost frozen to death.

On his way to the library, Minho decided to make a stop at the convenience store and grab some food for Jisung. However, he just stood there staring at the pre-packed sandwiches and remembered that he had no idea what Jisung liked. 

More like, he didn’t really know anything about Jisung. You could only get so far with texting back and forth. Sure, he knew the major things like what Jisung majored in, where he was born and at what age Jisung started drumming but that was about it.

He opted for texting the younger but he wanted to surprise Jisung. Which was stupid, really. But he still resisted asking him what he wanted to eat. So Minho took the safe route and picked a sandwich with eggs and bacon. No one could say no to bacon right? He picked up some banana milk as well because he did remember Jisung saying that he liked flavoured milk – making Minho swear to never tell anyone else after revealing the fact.

He made his way over to the cashier and waited patiently as the clearly sleep-deprived student rung up the items. Minho then handed her some cash, telling her to keep the change and hurriedly resuming his way.

After a few minutes, the enormous building came into sight and Minho realised that there was a little obstacle in his plans. He had no clue where Jisung would be. But he had already come this far so no way in hell was he going to give up now, so good old searching it was.

It turned out to be easier than he had expected. As soon as he walked into the library, he saw Jisung sitting at a big table, typing away at his laptop, his eyes droopy and blinking slowly.

It felt as if he hadn’t seen Jisung for weeks and seeing him now made Minho a bit nervous, but the good kind. Not that he would ever tell anyone that, especially not Seungmin or Hyunjin because he would never live that down.

Jisung was wearing another over-sized hoodie and he had the hood pulled over, making it look like he was drowning in the neon-green fabric.

Jisung was too damn adorable.

For a second, Minho considered sneaking up on him because, to be honest, how could he let such a perfect opportunity slide? But then he remembered the last time he had reached out to Jisung unannounced, so he decided to just walk up to him and plop down on the chair next to Jisung, sitting side-ways to look at him. However, the younger seemed so far gone that he didn’t even notice Minho sitting down next to him. Minho was about to speak up when Jisung puffed out his cheeks in annoyance and mumbled something to himself. It was hella cute so Minho placed his arm on the table and rested his head on his hand, deciding he’d be content with just watching Jisung.

Not in the creepy way.

Okay maybe it was a bit creepy but he’d like to think he was just… observing.

Minho saw a bit off his hair peeking out from the hood and he had to stop himself from pulling the thing off Jisung’s head and fix his hair. To make things worse, a tiny ray of sunlight seeped through the windows and right onto Jisung, making him glow and god did he look ethereal. The neon-green of his hoodie complimented his tan skin and his lips were just the perfect shade of light pink and it wasn’t fair.

Minho was so whipped it wasn’t funny.

‘’I give up!,’’ Jisung suddenly whisper-yelled and let his head drop on top of his keyboard, the word document getting filled by random letters rapidly as he repeated the action over and over.

‘’Stop. You’re going to ruin your pretty face if you keep that up,’’ Minho laughed out, sitting back up.

Minho hadn’t really meant to say it that way, but at the same time he did. If Jisung would call him out on it he could always play it off to be a mere observation. Or if he felt confident enough he could just turn it up a notch.

Jisung rolled his head to the side quickly, his cheek squished on the keyboard as he looked at Minho. He didn’t say anything so Minho just smiled at him, noticing how he felt all warm and bubbly inside as he looked at the younger.

Jisung shot up and the size of his eyes doubled, ‘’Minho hyung! How long have you been here?,’’

The action had caused Jisung’s hood to slip off and Minho almost lost it when he saw Jisung’s hair. It was messy and strands of hair sticking up, seemingly defying gravity and god did it look good on Jisung. How badly Minho wanted to run his fingers through it… it was insane.

‘’Long enough to see you being intimate with your keyboard,’’ He smirked, ‘’Didn’t know you were qwerty-sexual,’’

Jisung snorted loudly before looking back to the screen and he kept holding ‘backspace’ until all the random letters were gone. He proceeded to repeatedly click the ‘save’ button like a madman, probably to _really_ make sure the document was saved. A bit overkill if you asked Minho but then again, who didn’t do that?

Minho didn’t but that wasn’t the point. His friends _did_ make a point of it whenever it came up because - quote - _ ''it causes second-hand anxiety''._

‘’Calm down, cowboy,’’ Minho snickered. The younger just ignored him, proceeding to click a couple more times before carefully closing his laptop and shoving it to the side. 

Then Jisung scooted his chair closer to Minho and turned to face him, copying Minho’s position and shuffled a bit forward on his chair, their knees now touching. Jisung stared at him for a good few seconds, an unreadable expression painted across his face.

‘’What?,’’ Minho questioned.

Then he almost choked on air as Jisung lay his hands on his knees and looked up at him with narrowed eyes.

‘’I have a question…,’’ Jisung whispered.

Minho could feel his heartbeat spike as Jisung leaned closer, looking him dead in the eye. Maybe it was Minho’s imagination but he saw hesitation in Jisung’s eyes. Fear, almost. Jisung then leaned in and moved towards Mino’s ear, rising a bit from the chair as he did so. The weight of Jisung’s hands on his knees were heavy and burning and Minho was on fire.

‘’Yes?,’’ Minho squeezed out.

Jisung exhaled a shaky breath and the air brushed Minho’s ear, sending a shiver down his spine and causing his breathing to speed up. He could feel Jisung’s hands tremble ever so slightly and he figured that the younger was nervous.

It took too long. It took too long for Jisung to say whatever he wanted to say and it was killing Minho. Their proximity was too much for him and he considered pulling away but at the same time he wanted to see where this was going.

Was this Jisung being bold? 

Minho let himself hope that, maybe, Jisung liked him as well, or was _at least_ interested. He hoped that this whole situation was Jisung trying to make a move and the thought of that even being a possibility sent his mind into overdrive. If Minho wanted to, he could just turn his head and place a kiss on Jisung’s cheek. And he really wanted to but at the same time he didn’t want to scare Jisung off.

There was another shaky breath and Minho felt Jisung’s grip on his knees relax.

‘’… Do you have food?,’’ Jisung suddenly asked.

It was silent for a good second, Jisung still breathing in his ear before the younger suddenly spluttered and pulled back laughing – a bit nervously if you asked Minho.

This boy was going to be the death of Minho.

Minho swallowed thickly as he observed the faint blush on Jisung’s cheeks and the way the younger seemed to avoid direct eye-contact with him for longer than two seconds. It was cute how Jisung was suddenly being all shy and fidgety. It was endearing, really. Minho couldn’t help but smirk, knowing that he at least had _some_ effect on Jisung.

‘’I don’t know…,’’ Minho replied as he leaned onto the table.

Jisung finally looked him in the eye and right at that moment, Jisung’s stomach grumbled loudly, causing Minho to laugh and the younger to facepalm himself. Whatever had filled the air before slowly ebbed away and things were back to being… normal? Maybe not normal but more comfortable. That was more like it.

‘’Yes or no? It’s not that difficult!,’’ Jisung huffed before poking Minho in the leg, cheeks still unusually pink.

Minho wasn’t going to give in but when Jisung’s eyes screamed mischief at Minho and his fingers had moved up to Minho’s side, ready to tickle him, he gave in. He had always been ticklish and he was not going to let Jisung get the satisfaction of getting him down like that.

‘’Okay okay!,’’ Minho said as he swatted Jisung’s hands away, ‘’Yes I brought you food,’’

Jisung yelled out a little ‘yesss’ and legit high-fived himself as Minho took the sandwich and milk out of his bag, setting them down on the table next to Jisung. The younger’s eyes lit up, ‘’Thanks Minho hyung. You’re the best!,’’

His heart did another weird flip in his chest but he chose to ignore it for the sake of his sanity, ‘’I know I am, thank you for noticing,’’

Jisung just shot him a playful glare before he turned back to the sandwich in front of him and opened up the packet. He took one out and surprised Minho by holding it out to him, ‘’Here,’’

Minho tried his best not to melt at the gesture, ‘’It’s yours, I already ate,’’

‘’You sure?,’’ Jisung inquired.

Minho nodded and Jisung shrugged before chowing down. Minho observed the younger as he ate and saw that he would take a bite, chew just a handful of times and push the food in his cheek, repeating this process over and over until both his cheeks were about to explode before actually chewing properly and swallowing. He had never seen someone eat like that in his life and it reminded him of a squirrel or a hamster.

And just like that, Minho had found another thing he liked about Jisung. 

Fucking adorable.

It took Jisung only three minutes to empty everything and Minho wondered if Jisung was someone who, maybe, unintentionally skipped meals on a semi regular basis – much like Seungmin when he was studying - or if the younger was just one of those people who were always hungry, like Chan and Hyunjin.

‘’Don’t you have a class to go to? Law 101 or something? It’s already past lunch-time you know?,’’ Jisung said as he stretched out his limbs before sitting side-ways on his chair to face Minho.

Last evening, while texting, Jisung had demanded that Minho list off every course he had because, apparently, Jisung was curious and nosy like that. Minho had flat out told him that he wasn’t going to get any wiser if Minho did so, but that had only made Jisung more adamant – even using caps lock to convey the fact. _‘’Try me bitch,’’_ was how he had worded it. 

So like the good person Minho was, he had listed off every single one of them. Of course Jisung hadn’t understood any of the ridiculous names – _Director and Officer Insurance and Corporate Governance, Restitution and Unjust Enrichment, Advanced Topics in Trial Advocacy, Topics in Post-Conviction Law & Policy, Quantitative Methods in the Courtroom_ etc. etc - and he didn’t really try to hide it. Not that Minho blamed him. They didn’t use abbreviations and keywords for no reason.

‘’Very funny, Law 101,’’ Minho rolled his eyes, ‘’It was a mock-trial and no, it got cancelled, hallelujah, so I’m already done for today,’’

‘’Lucky you,’’ Jisung hummed with a little smile and he lay his head on the table and closed his eyes, his cheek getting squished once again. Now that Minho got a closer look, he saw how tired Jisung looked. His face seemed to be a bit paler than usual and there was a faint shadow under his eyes. There were a few blemishes on his skin – a light breakout on his forehead - which Minho hadn’t seen there before, meaning that the younger was obviously not in the best condition.

‘’How long did you sleep last night?,’’ Minho asked as he mimicked Jisung’s position. It was quite comfortable and Minho now understood why so many people reverted to this position. If tired enough, one could surely fall asleep like this.

‘’An hour or something but it’s not that big of a deal. I barely sleep so it’s not new,’’ Jisung replied, his eyes still closed.

Minho frowned, ‘’What do you mean, you barely sleep?,’’

Sure, college was stressful and time-consuming but how hard did Jisung work?

‘’Insomnia, I think? Or some mild version of it. Some weeks I sleep like a normal person and some weeks I don’t. You get used to it though,’’ Jisung mumbled.

It was funny and worrying at the same time. He barely knew Jisung and Jisung barely knew him but apparently it didn’t deter the younger from sharing such information with him. He had to admit that it was nice. Jisung seemed to be comfortable enough with Minho to be so open and that led Minho to feel like he’d known the younger for weeks already. Credits to Jisung because Minho wasn’t one to open up so quickly, let alone joke around, but Jisung managed to make him.

Chan had insomnia so Minho knew what it entailed and how physical and, eventually, emotionally draining it was. There was a new-found worry and Minho found himself genuinely concerned at the thought of the younger missing out on essential rest.

‘’How long did you have that? Did you go to the doctor? Maybe he could prescribe something?,’’ Minho rambled, his brain looking for something that could help the younger, ‘’A friend of mine has it as well and he has these sleeping-pills. They don’t always work but he has been sleeping better ever since he got them,’’ 

Jisung opened his eyes slowly, his smile only grown bigger during Minho’s rambling at him, ‘’It’s okay hyung, really. It doesn’t hinder me that much,’’

‘’Still, it isn’t healthy…,’’ Minho continued.

His words lingered in the air as Jisung sat back up, gathered the trash and stood up. He didn’t say anything as he stepped around the chair and walked over to one of the very few bins in the library.

And cute Jisung had flown out the window for Minho. It turned out that Jisung’s hoodie had an uneven cut, meaning that it was longer in the back than in the front and he saw that the younger wearing skin-tight jeans with more rips in them than actual fabric, the tan skin on his thighs clearly on display for the whole world to see. Unfortunately for Minho, it made him feel a bit weak in the knees.

When Jisung dumped the empty packages in the bin and walked back over, Minho did not miss the guy sitting at one of the tables opposite of them clearly checking Jisung out, a disgusting grin on his face and Minho suddenly wished that Jisung was more aware of what he wore. Sure, if he was comfortable then Minho didn’t really have anything to say about it – It wasn’t even his place to do so – but he hoped Jisung was aware that it was bound to attract attention. Be it positive or negative.

Minho was well aware of what people whispered to each other about the guys in Jisung’s band whenever they were on or off stage and he heard way too many unsavoury remarks regarding the younger. He always tried to ignore it but now that he actually knew Jisung on a more personal level, the words sounded so much worse as he went over them in his head. 

He looked away from the guy and saw that Jisung had sat back down, big round eyes staring it him, ‘’Hyung, you look like you are questioning your existence or something,’’ Jisung chuckled, ‘’We could talk about that if you want but to put it frankly, I don’t actually want to,’’

Minho scoffed, making Jisung laugh at him.

It was then that Minho noticed that Jisung wasn’t wearing his glasses, the ones the younger had worn when Minho had been so stupid to almost drink himself into oblivion and severely embarrassed himself in front of Jisung.

‘’By the way, how come you aren’t wearing your glasses?,’’

Jisung giggled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck, ‘’They are… temporarily… misplaced,’’ 

‘’Temporarily misplaced,’’ Minho parroted as he raised his brow, ‘’Isn’t that just saying that you lost them?,’’

‘’No. There’s a difference,’’ Jisung pointed out, ‘’But I wear contacts most of the time. I just switch to my glasses whenever I’m in my dorm,’’

‘’How come?,’’ 

It was quiet and Jisung frowned, making Minho slightly panic and wonder if he asked something he shouldn’t have. Jisung seemed to notice his worry and the look of contemplation soon got replaces by a reassuring smile.

‘’They can be a hassle,’’ 

How could glasses be a hassle? From what Minho knew, they were more comfortable than contacts. At least, that’s what Seungmin and Hyunjin always told him. They hated wearing contacts because they were a pain in the ass to put in and sometimes could cause real discomfort – dry or itchy eyes and all that stuff.

‘’And they make me look stupid anyways,’’ Jisung murmured as he studied his nails. 

Jisung looking stupid? Now that was something Minho couldn’t even begin to imagine.

‘’But they look cute on you,’’ He grinned, feeling a bit brave. Minho’s heart did a weird flip in his chest when Jisung averted his gaze and bit his lip.

‘’Oh shut up. They do not,’’

Oh.

Jisung being all shy?

Minho could work with that.

‘’Okay, maybe it’s not the glasses that make you look cute, but your face,’’ Minho replied, smirking as he saw Jisung’s eyes grow bigger.

‘’S-shut up,’’ Jisung shot back, his eyes locked on his fingers.

Minho smiled as he straightened up and placed his hands on Jisung’s thighs - mimicking what the younger had done a few minutes prior – and tugged Jisung a bit towards him, making sure he didn’t actually pull him off his chair. This earned him a little yelp from Jisung and Minho leaned closer, only coming to a stop near Jisung’s ear.

‘’Make me,’’ Minho whispered.

Like he said; two could play that game. 

Jisung gripped his arms and Minho was convinced that the younger was going to push him away but then he could feel Jisung’s hands travel up his arms, coming to a stop on his shoulders.

‘’This is all your fault,’’ Jisung whispered back – barely audible - and Minho was confused.

But before he could pull away or respond, Jisung slid his arms around his neck and pulled him in for a hug. Minho was sure that it wasn’t just his heart going crazy. He could actually _feel_ Jisung’s heart beating too hard and fast and Minho didn’t know whether to feel victorious or panicked, so he settled on neither of them.

‘’You’re nice,’’ Jisung mumbled, his arms around Minho’s neck tightening their hold.

Minho wasn’t crazy or oblivious. He liked to think that he knew what Jisung was doing. No way that the younger wasn’t interested at all. After all, who acts like Jisung does when you’ve only actually known the other person for, maybe, a week and don’t have feelings at all.

‘’Jisung,’’

‘’Don’t talk,’’ Jisung hissed back.

So Minho didn’t and just wrapped one arm around Jisung’s waist, letting his other hand slip to the side of Jisung’s thigh before pulling the younger a bit closer. He could feel Jisung tense before he relaxed.

Minho went through a severe case of déjà vu and it left his mind spinning. 

At this point he refused to believe that he was the only one with feelings. Sure, maybe Jisung didn’t like him as much as Minho liked Jisung but that didn’t mean that there was nothing. And right now, that was enough for Minho.

After a minute or so, Jisung pulled back and softly pushed Minho’s hand from his thigh, shooting him a little smile as he did so.

‘’So…,’’ Minho said, looking at Jisung standing up and swinging his bag over his shoulder.

There was another silence as they just looked at each other, neither one of them knowing what to say. Minho could see that Jisung was nervous but was trying to hide it by bravely maintaining eye-contact.

Just as Minho was about to ask Jisung what was up just now, the younger intercepted him.

‘’I really got to finish this so see you later?,’’ Jisung said, his fingers gripping the hem of his hoodie.

Minho wanted to talk, but apparently Jisung didn’t and he wasn’t sure if he should just let Jisung go like that. He was well aware that the younger was trying to run way and even though Minho did feel a bit like doing the same, he told himself that it wasn’t an option. 

‘’Jisung, can we talk about it?,’’ Minho tried as he rose from his chair as well, his body on autopilot as he took as step closer towards Jisung and gently took the younger’s hand in his. He could hear Jisung’s breath hitch, accompanied by a little squeeze. 

Minho wasn’t ‘good’ with expressing his thoughts or emotions but he figured it was okay. He had every reason to believe that it would be okay with Jisung. He could feel that something had clicked inside him, making his insides burn with urgency to talk to Jisung about how he felt. 

And if Jisung liked him as well, Minho was _not_ going to do this ‘dancing around each other’ bullshit. 

But apparently, Jisung thought differently.

‘’Later, okay? I really got to go,’’ The younger replied, squeezing Minho’s hand again before pulling it out of his grasp.

Minho was about to reach out for Jisung in an attempt to keep him here when the younger stepped away and grabbed his laptop from the table before giving Minho a little wave and practically running off.

{*}

It was Friday and Minho had convinced Jisung to join the weekly game-night, saying over and over again that the others would love to have him tag along. Minho was happy that Jisung wasn’t running away from him – literally or figuratively - which he had lowkey expected after the sudden departure from the library a few days ago.

Minho had to admit that it did sting a bit that Jisung had left him hanging like that but it wasn’t fair to blame the other for it. Maybe Jisung was just as scared as much as Minho used to. But if Jisung liked him, they’d get there. He was sure of that. 

Tonight it was Felix’s turn to deal with their chaotic group of friends and because Jisung didn’t want to show up at a strangers doorstep alone, he had announced that he’d stop by Minho’s place first so they could walk there together. When Minho had called him out on the fact that it was probably because Jisung was too lazy to look for the place himself, he had gotten a string of objections. He had continued to push Jisung’s buttons - because he could - but had promptly been shut up when Jisung had said that he just wanted to spend more time with him.

So with that, Minho was scrolling through twitter as he waited for Jisung to show up. The sun had started to set, filling his room with all kinds of shades of orange and pink. Minho had to admit that he loved evenings like that.

He looked away from his phone and turned his head towards his window, admiring the beautiful sky and clouds as the sun was going into hiding. He led his mind wander and imagined a scene where the younger would lay on Minho’s bed with him, Jisung’s head on his thighs as they watched the sky together, him playing with Jisung’s hair, Jisung giggling…

Minho’s chest hurt a bit as he thought about that and he didn’t quite understand why.

His phone buzzed, indicating that he had gotten a message and it tore him right out of that bittersweet concoction his mind had come up with. Minho didn’t even bother to open it as he saw it had been Felix in the group chat. It probably wasn’t relevant. It barely ever was.

He checked the time and saw that it was half past eight. Game-night always started at nine and Minho had told Jisung to be at his place twenty minutes prior to that, so he expected the younger in about ten minutes.

However, those ten minutes passed and there was no sign of Jisung. He decided to call the younger, pulling up Jisung’s contact and pressing ‘call’. He waited and waited but there was no response. He tried again but still nothing, so he sent Jisung a text instead and hoped for the best. 

Five more minutes ticked by and Minho was getting restless. He wondered if Jisung had forgotten but that was almost impossible. No, what worried him the most was that Jisung wasn’t picking up his phone or responding to his text. Jisung _always_ responded within a minute or so.

He was starting to get a bit worried and it nagged at his brain. He rolled off his bed and stuffed his phone in his pocket, moving towards his door and he slipped on his shoes. It was when he was reaching out to grab his jacket that there was a frantic knock on his door. Minho swung it open and all the worry seeped out of his body when he saw Jisung standing there, a bit out of breath.

‘’Jisung!,’’ Minho exclaimed, taking in the younger’s appearance, ‘’…Did you run?,’’

He looked good, as always. Jisung was wearing jeans - which were actually whole for a change – and an oversized sweatshirt with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows. And of course, Jisung’s beloved pair of slip-on vans. 

‘’No, not really,’’ Jisung replied, sheepish smile on his face, ‘’I was just in my room… looking for… something,’’

Jisung was taking little gasps and there was a distinct wash of red on his face and Minho imagined Jisung scurrying about his room, pulling open drawers and looking under books in slight panic. He wondered what state Jisung’s room was in now that the boy looked like he had been on a scavenger hunt with a pressing time-limit. 

‘’Must have been damn important by the looks of it,’’ Minho said as he pointed at Jisung’s hair, which was, once again, a mess. But like, _a mess_ \- strands of hair sticking out in a weird way. In Minho’s opinion, it still looked good and incredibly fluffy but it was probably not the look Jisung had been going for.

Jisung straightened up and his hands shot to his head, ‘’What? What’s with my hair?,’’

Minho just chuckled and shook his head as pulled out his phone, turning on the camera and switching it to selfie-mode before handing the thing over to Jisung. The younger let his hands fall from his head and grabbed Minho’s phone out of his hand, moving it upwards to see his hair.

‘’Oh my god! What the hell?,’’ Jisung exclaimed before trusting the phone back into Minho’s hand.

Minho leaned against the doorframe as he watched Jisung trying to flatten his hair desperately, huffing and softly cursing while he did. The sight made Minho’s heart swell and he was sure that he had never felt this much adoration towards anyone or anything. So Minho let him try to flatten his hair by himself for about a minute before he intervened.

‘’You need some help with that?,’’

Jisung looked at him, his cheeks puffed out in annoyance ‘’No. I can handle it,’’

‘’Sure. Whatever floats your boat Sung,’’ Minho grinned, the nickname falling from his lips unintended, ‘’How about you let me help you fix it, yeah?,’’

No ulterior motives. Not at all. It had nothing to do with that aching urge to feel if Jisung’s hair was as soft as it looked. He was just being a good _friend_.

The younger didn’t respond, his hands still trying to pat his hair down. Then he let out a huff and dropped his arms.

‘’Yes please,’’ He mumbled.

Minho didn’t hesitate to pull Jisung into his dorm and close the door behind them. As soon as he had let Jisung go, the younger disappeared from Minho’s sight, probably off to explore.

The boy was way too comfortable around him and it did not help Minho calm down at all. He had thought about it before – the way Jisung had effortlessly started to insert himself into Minho’s life – and even though it was weird and unusual, Minho loved it.

He loved how things were seldom awkward. He loved it how the nerves that came from actually befriending his crush had long disappeared and morphed into this warm feeling whenever he was around the younger. It felt natural and even though Minho claimed himself to be a realist and quite the sceptic, he could not help but think that it was fate.

Minho heard a deep sigh coming from the room and he stepped out of the miniscule hallway and into the room. He did not expect to find Jisung sitting on his bed, his back towards Minho as he looked out the window.

He halted his steps and sucked in a sharp breath.

The whole image in front of him looked so breath-taking, so warm and beautiful that Minho found himself unable to look away.

Jisung was surrounded by a mixture of pink, orange and golden light. His hair seemed to soak up the colours, making it look like his hair was the sunset itself. He looked so comfortable just sitting there, cross-legged and his hands in his lap… as if he’d sat at the same spot a million times before.

Minho knew he was going to regret it if he didn’t capture what was in front of his eyes. He didn’t care if it was weird or creepy or stalker-like. So he took a photo with his phone in hopes to keep it forever. It wasn’t as beautiful as the real thing but it came close enough.

‘’You have a nice view,’’ Jisung suddenly remarked, his voice soft and a bit distant, as if he wasn’t really present.

He did have a nice view but it had grown old and boring over time. The sports fields were located behind the building and a little forest after that. There were no buildings or any infrastructure obstructing the way, only grass and far-away trees instead. 

Minho felt his lips curl up into a smile as Jisung looked at him from over his shoulder, smiling sweetly at him before turning his head back to the window.

‘’I know. Guess I got lucky right?,’’ He replied as he moved to sit on the edge of his bed, on the opposite side of Jisung.

Jisung hummed and continued to look outside. For how long they sat there, Minho wouldn’t be able to tell.

It felt right. Everything just felt like it should. It was a weird sensation and Minho didn’t really know how to label it. He wrecked his brain but all he could come up with was _home_. it seemed to come closest, but it wasn’t exactly that either.

Jisung turned his body to look at Minho, a certain sparkle in his eyes as Minho smiled at him, ‘’Are you going to keep staring at me or are you actually going to help me fix my hair?,’

How Jisung had known, Minho didn’t understand but he didn’t even try to deny it and from the look on Jisung’s face – eyes twinkling and an almost beaming smile -, it wasn’t really necessary. 

‘’I would like to use a lifeline. I want use _‘ask the host’_ please,’’ Minho replied, pretending to be thinking really hard.

Jisung’s face screamed confusion, ‘’What?,’’

The younger tilted his head to the side every so slightly and Minho had to try his best not to tackle him and pepper his face with little, butterfly-like kisses. He shook his head in an attempt to get rid of the thought. He could _not_ turn soft right now.

‘’I’d really like to stare at you more but I’m not sure if that’s the correct answer,’’

Minho knew he had successfully turned the tables as Jisung’s eyes widened, a little gasp sneaking its way past his lips.

‘’And because I’m almost at a million, I’d like to ask the host what he thinks the correct answer is,’’ Minho followed up, motioning towards Jisung before moving a bit closer to the younger.

Jisung almost flew off the bed, barely able to keep his balance as he sprung up. Minho could see that his face was now properly red and even though it was probably a bit sadistic, he loved to see that Jisung had turned all fidgety and shy because of him.

‘’Y-you know what, maybe I’ll just… go?,’’ He squeezed out.

Minho laughed at that, standing up from the bed himself. He thought it was cute how Jisung’s confidence in ‘flirting’ ran incredibly shallow. It didn’t take much to undermine that confidence, barely any effort at all, honestly.

‘’You’re not going anywhere. You already promised to come with me,’’ Minho spoke softly, ‘’I won’t tease you anymore okay?,’’

There was nothing Jisung could say to that and he knew, ‘’Touché. But if you do that again I’m never going to hang out with you ever again,’’

‘’Sure sure, whatever you say Sung,’’

Jisung huffed again but didn’t comment any further. Minho smirked as he motioned for Jisung to follow him to the bathroom and fortunately the younger did. The space was a bit cramped – it was designed for one person after all – but they had enough room to move around.

He told Jisung to sit on the edge of the bathtub and dug around the cabinet, pulling out a hairdryer and a brush. He plugged the hairdryer in and turned on the sink, gathering some water in his hand before moving to stand in front of Jisung. He was about to wet the hair around Jisung’s right ear – that tuff of hair particularly defiant - when the younger suddenly swatted his hand away and sprung up, almost knocking Minho down, ‘’Wait!,’’

The action caused Minho to stumbled backwards and he almost tripped over his own feet.

‘’I-I can do it myself,’’ Jisung stuttered.

Minho wondered what caused Jisung to react like that. It was almost as if he was afraid of Minho coming anywhere near his hair. Or his ear, Minho didn’t know which one of the two.

‘’Hey, I know what I’m doing okay? Or are you just that picky when it comes to your hair?,’’ Minho teased, reaching out with the intent to ruffle the younger’s hair.

Jisung didn’t seem to appreciate it and intercepted him, swatting his hand away for the second time.

‘’Yes. Yes I am so I’ll do it myself okay?,’’ Jisung shot back. 

And if it wasn’t for that slightly panicked look in Jisung’s eyes, Minho would have felt genuinly hurt.

‘’O-oh. Okay, sorry. I’ll just wait in my room then,’’ Minho replied, scanning Jisung’s face and noticing a touch of sadness in his eyes. Minho turned the sink off and put the hairdryer on the dresser before turning around and leaving Jisung to himself.

Why had he accepted Minho’s offer for help, only to reject it later?

{*}

‘’You said it was just going to be a few friends!,’’ Jisung whisper-yelled at him.

They were currently in the process of taking off their shoes and jackets, loud laughter coming from Felix’s room. Minho hung up his jacket before turning back to Jisung, ‘’Yeah? I don’t get it,’’

‘’I think we have a different definition of ‘a few’…,’’ Jisung muttered as he neatly placed his shoes next to Minho’s.

They had arrived way passed nine, the result of Jisung taking forever to do something about his hair. It had been a full five minutes until Jisung finally emerged from Minho’s bathroom, the blonde locks still a bit messy but in a controlled fashion. More wavy than messy, actually.

Felix had thrown open the door, ready to cuss at Minho for being late but stopping himself when his eyes had landed on Jisung. They had shortly introduced themselves – Felix being the usual sunshine that he was – but then they had been interrupted by the sound of something breaking. The owner of the dorm had sped off, a string of English cuss-words leaving his mouth.

‘’Well, what do you call ‘a few’ then?,’’ Minho asked.

‘’I don’t know, like two or three or something?,’’ Jisung whispered back, ‘’It’s just… I never really had a lot of friends because I don’t particularly do well with new people and I sometimes feel a bit intimidated by bigger crowds, okay? And from the sound of it, you have _a lot_ of friends,’’

Minho chuckled, ‘’Jisung, you literally perform in front of dozens of people every week?,’’

Jisung let out a sigh and shrugged off his jacket, hanging it on the least occupied coat hanger, ‘’That’s just different. For your information, I don’t really interact with or _see_ those people because of the stage lights. The whole floor just looks black to me. Well, most of it. I only actually see the faces of the people that stand in the places were the lights shines into the crowd,’’

Aha.

‘’So that’s why you were always looking back at me?,’’ Minho blurted out.

‘’Yes,’’ Jisung replied without any hesitation. Then his eyes went wide, ‘’No! No wait, yes. But no… Yes. Maybe?,’’

Minho laughed, feeling his face heat up a bit at Jisung’s stuttered reply. The younger pushed him, cheeks dusted pink as he told Minho to shut up.

‘’Meanhoe! You coming or what?!,’’ A voice suddenly yelled, coming from the room.

Jisung spluttered and Minho rolled his eyes, silently planning on how he was going to make Hyunjin disappear without looking too suspicious. He saw that Jisung was about to comment on it, the mischievous glint in his eyes speaking a thousand words.

‘’Don’t ask,’’ Minho groaned.

The younger shrugged, a smirk plastered on his face and Minho knew that he wasn’t in the clear yet.

‘’I won’t, Meanh-,’’

‘’Don’t you dare finish that,’’ Minho intercepted.

Jisung grinned and patted his back before motioning for Minho to get moving. He got the hint and led Jisung into the room. They were met by Hyunjin, Chan and Felix cramped on the bed like they were playing human Tetris. Seungmin was sitting on the floor on his own, eyes fixed on the scattered papers in front of him and Woojin was sweeping the fucking floor.

‘’Good evening, _peasants_,’’ Minho spoke, ‘’I’ve graced you with my, _and Jisung’s_, presence,’’

Jisung snorted behind him and Minho smiled. He hadn’t particularly tried to be funny but getting Jisung to laugh was a very nice bonus. Everyone’s heads turned towards them and as soon as they did, Minho felt Jisung grab his arm. He looked back to see what was up and the awkward smile on Jisung’s lips made him realise that the younger hadn’t exaggerated when he had said that he felt uncomfortable around new faces.

Which made it a lot stranger that Jisung didn’t seem to have had a problem with him at all. It had been the younger who had been incredibly open and forward, leaving Minho to assume that he was one of those people who made friends quickly and knew just about everyone. 

‘’Well, is this the famous Han Jisung?,’’ Hyunjin smirked as he pushed Felix off of his legs and sat up to look at them.

Jisung let out a nervous giggle and squeezed Minho’s arm again.

‘’Not famous but hi?,’’

Hyunjin was looking way too smug for Minho’s liking and now that he thought about it, why had he thought it was a good idea to invite Jisung to come hang out with him and his friends, opposed to just him? And with that came the dread that his friends would expose him because, let’s be honest, that was such a Hyunjin thing to do.

But then again, Minho would be surprised if Jisung hadn’t already figured out. Minho didn’t really try to hide it. However, it still left him a bit weary because he didn’t want Jisung to find out the exact magnitude of his so-called ‘crush’ on the younger. Not from his friends, at least.

‘’What you hiding for? We don’t bite,’’ Chan chimed in, lifting himself off the bed and shooting a little smile.

‘’Speak for yourself,’’ Seungmin deadpanned, ‘’I’m not making any promises,’’

That actually made Jisung laugh and he finally let go of Minho’s arm, stepping next to him. Minho would be lying if he said that he didn’t feel a tiny bit sad at the loss of body-contact, but he’d get over it.

‘’No one is biting anyone or else I’ll kick you guys out,’’ Woojin yelled as he moved into the kitchen.

Felix jumped up from where he was sitting on the bed and took a few steps to the kitchen, ‘’But this is _my_ place? You can’t kick me out,’’

‘’Oh yes I can,’’ Woojin replied.

‘’No, you can’t,’’

Woojin emerged from the kitchen, a bottle of water in hand, ‘’Yes, I can, and I will if necessary,’’

That made Felix gasp. The freckled boy placed his hand over his heart, ‘’You wouldn’t!,’’

Oh boy was Felix wrong. Everyone knew that Woojin would be capable of doing pretty much anything, so kicking Felix out of his own dorm room didn’t seem all that impossible.

‘’Wanna test?,’’ Woojin said before taking a big swing of water, his eyes still locked on Felix and one brow raised.

Then there was more bickering and Jisung was almost on the floor, dying of laughter and clinging onto Minho to keep himself steady.

‘’Your friends are weird hyung,’’ Jisung managed to splutter, ‘’It’s fun. I like it,’’ 

They had calmed down after an agonizing few minutes and were now seated on the floor in a circle. Chan had smoothly managed to keep the space next to Jisung open when Minho had gone to the kitchen to fetch them something to drink and Minho was eternally grateful. A few minutes were spend on the guys getting to know Jisung a bit better. 

He couldn’t stop himself from smiling whenever Jisung would lean towards him – practically melting into him – whenever the guys made him laugh. The younger seemed to warm up quickly after that and Minho had to admit that he was grateful for his friends. They could be real pain in the asses sometimes but when it mattered, they had his back. 

‘’Wait! Hyunjin! Aren’t you the guy who tripped over a bench in the cafeteria during orientation?,’’ Jisung suddenly yelled, eyes wide.

Hyunjin’s head shot up, ready to say something but he was cut off by Chan, ‘What? Hyunjin tripping?,’’

‘’No, I-,’’ Hyunjin stuttered.

‘’No I’m sure!,’’

’’How come we never heard of this?,’’ Minho chimed in, terribly interested in learning something he could use against the dancer because, to be honest, he could never have enough material to embarrass Hyunjin with.

Jisung flapped about, ‘’He deadass collided with the bench when he wasn’t looking and toppled over like he was going to dive into the ground,’’

‘’I have no idea what you’re talking about,’’ Hyunjin laughed nervously.

‘’Wait,’’ Jisung said as he grabbed his phone, ‘’A friend of mine sent a video of it,’’

And then chaos ensued.

Hyunjin tried to get to Jisung but was held back by a laughing Felix, the boy keeping Hyunjin in some kind of chokehold on the floor while the dancer flailed about. The rest of them were huddled around Jisung and indeed, there was a video – the way it was copped and pixelated giving away that it hadn’t been the intention to film Hyunjin - of Hyunjin walking through the cafeteria, acting all cool and smug while talking to a few girls and then he collided with a bench. There was a very high-pitched squeal and then they saw Hyunjin topple to the floor.

They watched the vid over and over again and Minho couldn’t look away from Jisung. He was grinning and soft giggles escaped his lips and Minho was hit by another wave of affection for the boy. He was happy that Jisung seemed to be comfortable around him and his friends despite his previous concern about being able to mingle with the group of guys.

And maybe had been staring at Jisung for a bit too long when the latter seemed to notice and turned to look back at him, but it didn’t matter he got caught because the corners of Jisung’s lips shot up into a beaming smile as soon as they made eye-contact.

Yeah, Minho really liked him.

{*}

‘’Okay, first things first,’’ Felix announced, ‘’I would like to state that I how no idea how this works but our lovely Seungmin figured it out, of course, so I hereby denounce all responsibility for actually making this work,’’

‘’Wow… since when did you get so eloquent mister?,’’ Hyunjin teased.

Felix huffed and crossed his arms, tilting his head up, ‘’I choose not to comment on that,’’

‘’Sure. Pretend you aren’t trying to make a good impression on Jisung. We all know you are an idiot and you can’t hide that forever,’’ Seungmin offhandedly remarked, his face buried in a decent stack of paper. Probably the instructions, Minho guessed.

‘’Now now children. Play nice,’’ Woojin interrupted.

There was a collective hum and Woojin smiled, ‘’That’s more like it lovelies,’’

Felix’s mouth dropped open and the boy looked around franticly, waiting for someone to say something. However, peace had returned and no one spoke up.

‘’Wow okay. I see what’s going on here! Woojin is being as fake as I am but you aren’t calling _him_ out on it. This is a conspiracy!,’’

Minho grinned, knowing that Felix had been caught in the trap. The boy was witty but sometimes incredibly easy to tease. He heard someone shift somewhere on his right and he looked at Seungmin, a certain glint in his eyes telling Minho that he hadn’t missed Felix’s slip-up of words.

‘’So you admit it, then?,’’ 

‘’Admit what?,’’ Felix replied.

‘’That you were being fake?,’’

‘’No,’’

‘’But you said so yourself,’’

‘’Did not,’’

‘’You did Felix,’’ Chan spoke up, seemingly amused.

It was silent for a solid ten seconds – yes, Minho counted – before Felix threw his arms in the air in frustration, ‘’Conspiracy, I tell you,’’

‘’It’s okay, we love you regardless Lixie,’’ 

‘’No no, I see how it is,’’ Felix huffed before standing up and making his way over to where Minho and Jisung were sitting. Minho didn’t even have a chance to ask the younger what he was doing when he suddenly got pushed to the side, resulting him in falling over.

‘’The fuck you doing?,’’ Minho asked.

Felix didn’t respond and just pushed him away, sitting down next to Jisung when he had created enough space.

‘’Jisung, you are my only friend from now on,’’ The freckled boy exclaimed, swinging an arm around Jisung’s shoulders.

Jisung’s eyes lit up again as he grinned, ‘’Sure! We don’t need them right?,’’

‘’Hey!,’’ Minho yelled as he pushed himself upright again, ‘’What about me?,’’

‘’Ssshhhh,’’ Felix replied.

This time it was Minho’s turn.

He heaved himself off the floor and moved to stand behind Felix. He got a hold of the back of Felix’s shirt and tugged him back, causing the boy to fall backwards. However, Minho hadn’t expected for the freckled boy to pull Jisung down with him.

The two now lay at Minho’s feet, Felix’s arm under Jisung’s head. 

‘’At least buy me dinner first Felix,’’ Jisung grinned, looking into Minho’s eyes as he shuffled a bit closer to Felix. There was certain fire in Jisung’s eyes telling Minho that the younger was trying to get _some_ sort of reaction out of him.

‘’How about tomorrow cutie?,’’ Felix replied as he rolled to his side, almost laying on top of Jisung. Jisung snorted and loud laughter filled the room but Minho was left speechless.

‘’Well, that backfired real quick Minho,’’ Chan deadpanned.

Minho was thinking about how to drag Felix across the floor without causing Jisung’s head to slip off his arm and onto the floor when Jisung pushed Felix back on his back before sending Minho a wink. Then he quickly sat back up, clearing the way for Minho.

It took him less than five seconds to haul Felix to the other side of the room, dropping him there before walking back to sit next to Jisung again, pulling the younger in for a side-ways hug. Jisung tensed and tried to pull away but gave up after a few half-hearted attempts, sinking into Minho instead.

‘’Jealous much,’’ Hyunjin said.

Minho hissed at him, knowing damn well that it pissed the dancer off. He didn’t know why but as long as it worked right?

‘’Oh my god! Stop doing that!,’’

{*}

To say it was a mess would be an understatement.

Seungmin had tried to explain how everything worked but no one really got it, except for Chan and Jisung but that was about it. The string of questions about the game had delayed them severely, making it way past ten before they actually got to playing. Hyunjin swore he got the rules but everyone knew that he was just faking it - the way he’d look at Seungmin after throwing the dice gave away that he clearly didn’t know when to cheer or when to whine. Which was dumb because that was the easiest thing to remember.

Mainly because they had been throwing way too many twos and threes and thereby failing almost everything they attempted to do. So far, they had lost just about everything they had started off with, starting with a ton of their weapons because they had tried to bribe their way into a certain guild and Woojin had fucked up by throwing a one.

Jisung was missing his left hand because he had stupidly tried a shot at taking out the monster unassisted and that didn’t end up going as planned.

And now their healer, Chan, was useless because he had been cursed by a mage he had stolen from. That was still okay until Chan had rolled the dice in hopes of succeeding in taking a short route down the mountain and he had ended up falling to his death. 

The rest had dropped like flies after that.

In the midst of Woojin and Seungmin arguing about something no one even understood, Jisung had managed to somehow end up lying down on the floor with his head on Minho’s thigh as the latter sat cross-legged. One of Jisung’s arms was wrapped around one of Minho’s legs, much like one would do with a pillow. He had done it all so smoothly that Minho had only noticed after a minute or so and when he did, he could feel his face heath up. Fortunately for him, no one had addressed their new sitting-situation and he was really fucking thankful for that. 

The game had been long forgotten by now and the whole thing had transformed into a casual hangout, one where friends would be in the same room but do their own thing. Minho liked that the best. Sure, he loved to actually interact with his friends but there was something about the silent – or not so silent, depending on the mood – company.  
Just existing in the same space, if you will.

Seungmin and Hyunjin had ended up all sprawled over each other and even though Seungmin had complained at first, the boy was now going through his phone with Hyunjin draped over his stomach, doing the exact same thing. Felix was actually sitting at his desk in the corner of the room, stressing out because he suddenly remembered that he had actually forgotten to hand in an assignment and was hoping the professor would let him off the hook if he still managed to hand it in before the day was over. Woojin was being an angel as usual and was seated next to Felix, going through books and stacks of paper to filter out any useful information for the boy. And Chan was actually in the kitchen, cooking up some kind of late-late dinner because he was hungry again even though he had managed to eat one bag of crisps and about half a bag of skittles on his own.

Which left Minho and Jisung in their own world and like usual, they had pretty much talked about everything and nothing. However, Jisung’s responses had gotten shorter and shorter and now he wasn’t even looking at Minho anymore.

‘’You okay? Is there something wrong?,’’ He asked, dipping his head down to see the younger’s face.

Jisung just nodded before looking up at him, seemingly not bothered by the proximity they were in. Minho didn’t mind either so he just stayed there, mere inches away from Jisung. Really, it would only take Minho or Jisung to shift their weight and their lips would touch, something Minho _really_ wanted to do when Jisung sleepily batted his eyelids, making his eyelashes brush his cheekbones.

‘’Just tired. I had a class at eight this morning and this is actually the first time today that I get to relax,’’ Jisung smiled softly and took a deep breath, slowly breathing out as he rubbed his face.

Minho’s heart skipped a beat at the sight because it made Jisung look like a tired kitten and everyone and their mom knew that he was obsessed with the animal.

‘’If you’re tired you should go back and sleep. It’s almost twelve anyway,’’

Jisung shook his head a little, closing his eyes again, ‘’But it’s nice here,’’

Minho didn’t really know what Jisung meant with that _exactly_, but he could guess by the way Jisung tightened his arm around his thigh and poked his knee. And as much as Minho agreed and wanted them to stay like that for as long as possible, he was determined to get Jisung to bed because he knew that the younger had barely been sleeping the past week.

So he poked Jisung’s cheek, trying to get the younger to open his eyes again. It took a few pokes before Jisung huffed, swatted his hand away and looked back up at him.

‘’Let’s go. I’ll walk you back,’’

Jisung let out a dissatisfied sound but sat back up anyway. Minho missed the sudden loss of warmth but he didn’t have to dwell about it much longer because Jisung was already on his feet, reaching out his hand to pull Minho up from the floor. Without any hesitation he grabbed the younger’s hand and let himself get hoisted up. As soon as he was steady on his feet, he expected Jisung to let go of his hand but he didn’t. Instead, he locked their fingers together, making Minho’s heart speed up for a bit.

And even though he was sure someone was going to comment on that when they said goodbye to the rest of the group, no one did and just wished them both good night.

Jisung let go of his hand when they had to put on their jackets and Minho didn’t like it so as soon as they were out the door, he had reached for Jisung’s hand again and Jisung had just shot him a dazzling little smile again.

The walk back was silent but not uncomfortable and Minho wanted to keep walking forever if it meant he could keep holding Jisung’s hand. It was really fucking cliché but Minho now got all the hype around holding hands. He had never thought he would be one of _those_ people but it turned out he was. 

All too soon they had reached Jisung’s dorm and they had to let go. Jisung was just staring at him, his keys in his free hand, and Minho figured he was as hesitant about letting go as he was. And that was good. It was good that it wasn’t just him.

Minho lost all sense of time and space as he let himself get lost in Jisung’s eyes and the latter let him as he stared back just as much. It was odd how calm Minho was, especially because Jisung had dared to take a little step forward, but he liked it. He liked how at peace he felt being so close to Jisung and that his mind wasn’t screaming at him to run away.

It was Jisung who finally broke the silence.

‘’I should go to sleep,’’

Minho blinked a couple of times to get back to earth, ‘’Yeah, I should too,’’

Jisung slipped his hand out of Minho’s and surprisingly, took another step closer and now they were so close that it almost seemed like they were touching.

‘’Thanks again for today hyung, I really had a great time,’’

And just as he was about to say that he was glad that Jisung had joined them, the younger got to his tippy-toes and leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on Minho’s cheek.

Minho froze in place and his brain malfunctioned, leaving him blinking sheepishly at the younger. Jisung laughed before he turned around and unlocked his door, wishing Minho goodnight softly and disappearing into his dorm.

When Minho’s brain finally registered what had happened, he couldn’t help but smile like a madman. And if he walked back to his dorm looking like a psychopath, he really couldn’t care less.


	2. But Being Here With You Gives Me A Purpose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So much for a short one shot ey?
> 
> Please leave a comment when you're done reading, it really makes my day ^^
> 
> heklAa - 14 Mu
> 
> Listen to it while reading. I listened to it on repeat while writing :)

It was Wednesday afternoon and the weather outside was plain awful. It had been raining ever since Minho had woken up that morning and even though he was really enjoying spending his day on his bed and reading up on some subjects he had severely neglected the last few days, he was getting seriously tired of it. It was only fun till a certain extend and Minho wanted his free day to end on a more positive note but the weather didn’t seem to care about his happiness all that much.

He hadn’t heard of Jisung all day either and he had to admit that it made him a bit sad. Ever since game-night last Friday, Minho felt that something had shifted - or _progressed_ \- in his relationship with Jisung. It had become clear to Minho that there was something going on and even though he had kinda known since the whole library-thing, It was as if they had reached some point of mutual-understanding.

However, Jisung seemed to be holding back a bit and Minho wondered why that was. Was he waiting for Minho to say something first? Was he just not ready to talk about it? Was he _scared_? After all, Jisung had cut him off in the library so Minho assumed that Jisung maybe wasn’t as okay or comfortable with what they had going on as he was.

There was a timid knock on his door and Minho though he had imagined it until there was another knock, way more prominent that the first one. He contemplated whether to actually get off his bed and open the door, or to just ignore it and pretend he wasn’t in.

He was way too comfortable and lazy so he decided on the latter. If one of his friends needed him they’d call or text anyways and if it was someone else… well, they could wait until tomorrow.

The knocking stopped and after a few seconds, Minho’s phone vibrated on the nightstand. He let out a sigh and rolled to his stomach, reaching out to get the device. It took him almost half a minute to get to his phone and even though it would have been easier to just get his lazy ass up to get it, he didn't give up and was rewarded with the feeling like he had accomplished something big when he finally got his grip on it.

He unlocked his phone and saw that Jisung had messaged him, asking if Minho was in his dorm and if so, if he could open up. Minho didn’t have to think twice and he threw his phone next to him before scrambling off the bed. 

When he threw open his door, he was met by a soaking-wet Jisung with his arms wrapped around himself, his face almost invisible because the hood of his jacket was covering most of it. He was shivering but still smiled at Minho anyways.

‘’Jisung? What the hell? Why are you drenched?,’’ Minho rambled as he pulled Jisung inside, tugging the jacket off the younger’s body.

Jisung just laughed as he stepped out of his shoes, making sure not to step into the room before he was sure he wasn’t actually dripping. 

‘’The weather is lovely today, isn’t it?,’’ The younger chuckled dryly.

Minho let out a sigh as he figured that Jisung had been caught in the weather without anything to keep himself dry. He moved without hesitation and got a few towels from the bathroom, tossing them at Jisung before moving to the kitchen to get him something warm to drink. Jisung followed, the big towel wrapped around his shoulders.

The younger had somehow managed to keep his head dry and that was an impressive feat when he looked like he had jumped into a pool fully clothed.

‘’You’re probably freezing,’’ Minho said as he turned on the water-boiler, ‘’You should go to your dorm and take a shower first,’’

Jisung grimaced before he looked down, ‘’Well, about that… I maybe, kinda, possibly, left my key at Thursday Party?,’’

Minho didn’t know whether to laugh or feel sorry for him. However, he did felt a bit giddy about the fact that Jisung had come to him and not someone else. 

There was a loud bubbling sound and the water-boiler made a clicking sound, indicating that the water was indeed... boiling. Minho opened the cupboard and managed to get the biggest mug he had before pulling out his assortment of tea.

‘’I can go back to get it for you? I’ve actually got an umbrella, like a responsible adult, and I don’t think you should go outside any more today,’’

Jisung let out a snort and shook his head, ‘’I actually went back again when I couldn’t find my key on me but it was gone. Then I freaked out because I actually lost my spare one two months ago and haven’t replaced it yet, but then Brian texted that he had accidentally taken it with him and that he was going to drop it off tomorrow,’’

Minho knew that Brian was the bassist of the band and Minho suddenly remembered that Jisung had told him that they always practised on Wednesdays. 

He pointed to the little bags in the box and Jisung leaned closer, inspecting the words on them before pulling out plain old earl-grey. Minho took it out of his hands and let it drop in the mug before pouring the water in. He turned around and handed Jisung the mug, making sure to tell Jisung to be careful because it was hot – which was a stupid thing to say because _of course_ it was hot – before leaning back against the counter.

‘’So let me get this straight… You don’t have access to your dorm until tomorrow?,’’

Jisung had both of his hands wrapped around the mug and was gently blowing into it in an attempt to cool it down a bit. He looked so _soft_ that Minho almost cooed at the sight, especially when Jisung’s face turned a bit too red to consider normal.

‘’Y-yeah, so, uhmm, you know. Like, maybe-,’’

‘’You can stay here Jisung, it’s fine,’’ Minho intercepted with a light chuckle. Seriously, Jisung was just too cute, ‘’I’ll see if I can find some dry clothes that will fit you,’’

Jisung seemed to light up at the answer and he nodded. Minho just smiled back and stepped out of the tiny kitchen. He opened up the closet and dug through it to find something that would normally be a tight fit for him. Jisung was just a tiny bit shorter but he was skinnier. It took him a full minute before he had managed to gather together a shirt, an old pair of sports-shorts and a pair of boxers that had been a size to small but he had never bothered to throw away.

He turned away from the closet and walked back over to Jisung. The younger was now shaking like a leaf even though he had finished the tea already. Minho took the mug out of Jisung’s hands and gave him the clothes, not missing how cold Jisung’s fingers were when he brushed against them.

‘’I think you can find the shower. Towels are in the bottom drawer,’’ Minho said, ‘’Now get your ass in there before I actually get worried,’’

Jisung nodded again and disappeared into the bathroom. Minho made his way over to his bed and flopped down ungracefully. The sound of the shower running could be heard, followed by soft humming – a bit out of tune - and Minho melted into his mattress. 

He must have zoned out for a bit because suddenly Jisung was standing next to his bed, poking Minho’s leg with his foot, ‘’Hyung? You okay?,’’

Minho shot up and nodded, ‘’Sorry, spaced out,’’

Jisung chuckled and shook his head as he dried his hair with a towel. Now that Minho was back to earth, he took in Jisung’s appearance and he sent a mental ‘sorry’ to all those people he had laughed at whenever they would go crazy about their boyfriend or girlfriend wearing their clothes.

He got it now.

The t-shirt Minho had given Jisung was still too large and reached mid-thigh, making it almost look like Jisung wasn’t even wearing shorts underneath if it wasn’t for a small strip of black peeking out. It was sending his mind into overdrive and it sent mixed signals. Jisung looked adorable but at the same time, the room suddenly felt too hot. He made the mistake to let his eyes wander to the younger’s legs and he inwardly groaned.

How the hell had he thought he was going to survive Jisung sleeping over? And that’s when he realised that he had overlooked one minor detail. Minho only had one bed.

‘’Carve it in stone, it will last for centuries,’’ Jisung spoke as he walked back to the bathroom to hang the towel.

Minho was seriously confused, more so than embarrassed that he had been staring, _again_, ‘’What the fuck are you saying?,’’

Jisung re-appeared and came to a stop in front of Minho, looking somewhat smug and shy at the same time, ‘’You’re staring,’’

Even though Minho should have felt embarrassed about it, the tone in Jisung’s voice and that little smile told him that the younger didn’t really mind all that much.

So Minho relaxed and leaned back, ‘’Sung, it’s _‘take a picture, it will last longer’_, you know?,’’

Jisung shrugged, ‘’I know but it’s not as original,’’ 

‘’Okay, sure. Just keep standing there then and let me whip out my piece of stone and a carving tool,’’ Minho smirked, ‘’I hope you don’t have somewhere to be the next decade because it’s going to take a while,’’

They kept joking around like that, even with the movie running on Minho’s laptop. It was still pouring outside but it didn’t bother Minho anymore. Not with Jisung glued to his side and his head on Minho’s shoulder as they sat against the headboard of the bed.

‘’Hey, Jisungie?,’’ Minho spoke up as the ending credits started to roll.

Jisung shifted a bit but didn’t make any move to remove his head from Minho’s shoulder. On the contrary, he only melted into Minho’s side more, ‘’Hmm?,’’

Minho had spoken up without really thinking and now that he had Jisung’s attention, he didn’t really know what exactly he wanted to say. For a second he wanted to tell the younger that he liked him but he managed to suck that back in before actually doing so. And why he didn’t just say it, he didn’t know. Maybe, deep down, he was still a bit scared that he had misread Jisung and that the latter just saw Minho as a good friend. So even though he had said to himself that he wasn’t going to do all this pining-shit when it wasn’t necessary, he backed out.

‘’Nothing. Let’s go to sleep,’’ 

Jisung just hummed again but didn’t sit back up and Minho chuckled, ‘’I can’t move if you stay like that Sung,’’

The younger let out a legit whine before looking up at Minho, eyes already half-closed, ‘’But I’m comfortable,’’

‘’I have noticed,’’ Minho smiled, ‘’But to be honest, I do not feel like waking up tomorrow with my neck and back all aching. It makes me feel like an old man and that sucks,’’

‘’… Fine,’’ Jisung dragged out the word as he moved away from Minho, his shoulders slumped as he hung his head and rubbed his eyes.

Surprisingly, it took Minho only a few minutes to get the younger settled into bed. Jisung – even though more asleep than awake – hadn’t been difficult to get under the blankets despite his reluctance to move earlier. 

He was already gone before Minho had even shut down his laptop and he was glad about that. Even though the whole mood had been comfortable and relaxed, he didn’t how awkward it would have been if he had to try and fall asleep with Jisung right next to him, _awake_.

Minho’s bed was large enough for two people but it somehow felt too small with Jisung softly snoring next to him. Sure, he had slept with other people in his bed and had fallen asleep just fine, but this was different. 

This was Jisung.

{*}

It was already morning when Minho opened his eyes again, the room dimly lit by morning-light and birds chirping outside. He looked to his right and saw that Jisung was actually already awake. He had the blanket pulled up to his nose and the hood of the hoodie over his head, the string pulled tight and knotted into a little bow.

Minho didn’t remember giving Jisung a hoodie so that meant that the younger had taken the liberty to find one himself when Minho had been asleep and that made him like Jisung even more – if that was even possible at this point.

Jisung was staring at his phone intently and Minho decided to see how long it would take for him to notice that he was awake. However, he quickly grew bored and poked the younger’s side, earning him a yelp as Jisung let his phone slip from his hands. The thing almost landed on his face but Jisung somehow managed to dodge it before it was able to.

‘’Hyung! Why the fuck couldn’t you just have said that you were awake like a normal person? I almost broke my god damn nose! ,’’

‘’Good morning to you too sunshine,’’ Minho groggily responded as he heaved his body up, ‘’I see you decided to raid my closet?,’’

Jisung showed a toothy grin before he shrugged, ‘’Sorry?,’’

Minho patted the younger’s cheek lightly before he got out of bed and walked over to the kitchen. He knew he didn’t really have a lot of food around but he did remember buying eggs two days ago.

‘’Hey Jisung!,’’ Minho yelled, face shoved into the fridge.

‘’Yes?,’’ Jisung replied, startling Minho by appearing next to him out of nowhere. He bumped his head on the edge of a shelve in the fridge and shot back, rubbing the spot he had hit with his hand as he shot a glare at Jisung.

‘’Payback’s a bitch,’’ was all the younger said before stepping around Minho and pushing himself up to sit on the counter right next to Minho, obviously trying to hold back his laughter.

Minho rolled his eyes and choose not to respond to that because, to be honest, Jisung was right about that one, ‘’You okay with eggs? I don’t really have anything else?,’’

It was a bit stupid to not have any food but Minho always either skipped breakfast or ate at the café next to the dorms, so he never bought bread or cereal or something. Which he now felt a bit guilty for.

‘’I like eggs,’’ Jisung replied, shooting a little smile before looking at his feet as he swung them about.

Minho hummed at that and turned on the stove before shooing Jisung’s legs away to get the frying-pan. He finally got to it after Jisung had decided to stop making it difficult for him on purpose and he grabbed a bowl, cracking a couple off eggs before reaching for a pair of chopsticks to stir.

‘’I fucking hate mornings,’’ Jisung suddenly huffed out, ‘’Especially Thursday mornings because I have this one god damn class that always manages to make me want to take the next plane to wherever,’’ 

Minho agreed. He wasn’t really a morning person as well. 

‘’Question,’’

‘’Shoot,’’

Minho turned to look at Jisung, ‘’Why do you swear so much? I thought you were a cute little squirrel but guess not? I want my money back,’’

Jisung seemed to think for a bit and Minho realised he had called Jisung a _‘cute little squirrel’_ without actually meaning to and he was a bit afraid that Jisung was going to say something about it.

‘’Occupational habit,’’ The younger shrugged.

Minho hummed as he stirred the eggs but he quickly turned back to look at Jisung as the answer settled in his brain, ‘’What does drumming have to do with swearing?,’’

Jisung smiled and leaned forward, ‘Everything,’’

‘’No it doesn’t,’’ Minho deadpanned.

‘’Ssshhhh,’’

Before Minho could say anything more, Jisung suddenly leaned towards him even more and placed the softest little kiss on Minho’s cheek.

Minho froze and he could feel his eyes growing wide. He looked at Jisung and the younger seemed as shocked by his own action as Minho was. However, he giggled and turned his head to the side. 

Minho could see that Jisung was about to hop of the counter and his body moved on his own when he placed his hand on Jisung’s cheek to get the younger to turn his head back to him and leaned over to place a kiss on the other.

Jisung let out a little gasp and Minho quickly pulled away and continued stirring the eggs, unable to wipe a stupid little smile off his face.

They didn’t really speak after that. Jisung had turned on some music and was softly singing along as Minho did his best to fix some kind of breakfast. Every now and then, Minho would glance over at Jisung and whenever he did, he could feel the warmth spreading through his chest as the younger bopped along with the music, phone down in his lap and head down. 

He was aware how disgustingly domestic the whole situation was but to be honest, he loved every second of it.

{*} 

Minho didn’t really see Jisung the following days. The younger had been at Thursday party that same evening but Minho hadn’t been able to go because he had to prepare that stupid mock-trial with his teammates and because everyone liked procrastinating so much, they had pushed it till the last minute to actually sit down in the library to work on it.

Jisung had texted to ask if he was going to come and it had taken him a lot of self-restraint – and maybe some glares from the people on his team – to stay put and work on what he had too. Somewhere between the third and fourth hour of painfully hard work his mind had wandered off. 

Unlike Minho had expected, the rest of their morning after the whole _lets-kiss-each-other-on-the-cheek-incident_ hadn’t been awkward at all. On the contrary, he had felt more peaceful than he had ever felt in his entire college-career so far.

They had finished breakfast and parted ways soon after that to get to their respective lectures and as soon as they had said their goodbye’s – Jisung once again standing on the tips of his toes to kiss Minho’s cheek - , the feeling of missing the younger was almost instant. And even though the feeling was foreign and a bit uncomfortable, it felt nice.

Somehow he had managed to power through the next few hours and when they were finally finished it was already way past three in the morning, his teammates looking like zombies and Minho was glad that he was an evening-slash-night person.

The days after that were pretty uneventful. Minho had somehow managed to ace the mock-trial and him and his teammates had won, earning them a free ticket to skip any mandatory class – which was kind of stupid because skipping classes was such a high school thing to do.

Game-night had been cancelled because Seungmin had gotten the flu earlier that week and had successfully managed to pass it on to Hyunjin and Woojin, even though they barely had any time to meet up. An impressive feat if you asked Minho but Seungmin just was impressive that way.

His weekend had been the usual kind of boring. Once again he had just ignored the heaps of work he was supposed to get done for the following week and had wasted his free time on binge-watching The Alienist, staring at his ceiling while blasting music through his crappy portable speaker and texting stupid memes to Jisung. He had asked if the younger wanted to hang out but apparently, Jisung was one of those people who actually did their work a few days before the deadline. It wasn’t really surprising but from time to time it still baffled Minho how people managed to do that.

Monday through Wednesday had been plain awful, the result of Minho having to pull an all-nighter on Monday to make sure he was actually going to get a passing grade on the paper he should have written that weekend. It had thrown off his non-existent sleep schedule, meaning that he struggled more than usual to get to sleep before the sun rose. It was safe to say that he had been a zombie and his lovely friends had been so nice to constantly remind him of that.

Minho was ready to convert his atheist ass to Christianity and praise the Lord when Thursday rolled around and Jisung had stopped by his dorm to ask if he wanted to hang out after their usual performance. Of course Minho had said yes and that’s why he now found himself back in the club on his own, not really seeing anything else than Jisung behind the drums.

Their performance was good. Of course it was good. Minho didn’t expect anything else.

It ended all too soon and Minho didn’t even bother to stick around to listen to the main act and he made his way to the bar in the back instead.

Minho didn’t really know how it had happened, but one second he was hanging around the bar waiting for Jisung, and the next people behind him started shouting.

Probably a fight – one that Minho definitely did not want to get involved in – but he still turned around to see what was going on. Much like he had expected, people had formed some kind of circle in the middle of the dance floor and he let out a sigh. They were in a college campus club slash bar, not some kind of underground fight club.

It still happened sometimes – depending on the crowd – and it always managed to get under Minho’s skin. People were just here to have a good time and it really wasn’t necessary for some drunk guys to go and pretend to be all macho and ruin everyone’s fun.

Even for his dislike of the situation, he straightened a bit up and tried to look past the bodies to see what was going on. Much like he had expected, there were just too many people standing around. He was going to ignore the whole situation when he suddenly noticed that the crowd wasn’t egging on whoever was fighting.

They just seemed to stand there – frozen - and that was odd. He tried to puzzle together what was so different about this fight but his mind came up blank and just when he was about to turn back around and finish the rest of his beer, he caught sight of a very familiar-looking head with blonde hair in the middle of it all.

For a second Minho though that his mind was playing tricks on him but he still pushed himself away from the bar and walked into the crowd on autopilot, nudging people to the side to get to the front.

His pushing became a bit more desperate when he caught sight of Jisung clearly _not_ being part of the crowd, but part of whatever altercation was going on.

His heart dropped to his stomach and he finally made it into the little open space in the middle of the crowd. And there was Jisung, his eyebrow bleeding and his face set in anger.

There were about two guys and one girl holding Jisung back and for someone that looked so tiny, Jisung was sure giving them hell. Minho didn’t even bother to see who it was the younger had been fighting with as his legs moved on their own, coming to a stop in front of Jisung.

The younger didn’t even seem to realise that he was standing in front of him, the way he tried to look past Minho’s shoulder gave away that Jisung didn’t really _see_ him.

‘’Sung? What the hell happened?,’’ Minho finally spoke, moving his head to the side to meet Jisung’s eyes.

That seemed to snap Jisung out of it and he turned his head and as soon as they made eye-contact, the struggling stopped and the people who had been holding him let out a deep sigh.

However, despite the fact that Jisung was now aware of Minho’s presence, the younger did not move or say anything and just stared right into his eyes. Minho waited for the younger to tell him what the hell was going on but he ended up just waiting and waiting, neither of them looking away.

Now that he was closer, he could see that Jisung’s eyebrow was split and that his cheek was slowly turning more and more red, already fading into a sickening purple.

They broke eye-contact when a loud groan was heard and Minho whipped his head around, only to see another guy being held up by – what Minho assumed – his friends, his hand on his nose and even with barely any light present, Minho could see that the guy’s nose was bleeding.

He turned back to Jisung again and saw that he was glaring at the other guy, eyes squinted and if Minho didn’t know Jisung any better, he would have found the younger actually intimidating. He saw that Jisung’s muscles had tensed up again - eyes slightly watery and face set in frustration - so he didn’t hesitate to softly cup the younger’s cheeks and guide his head to look at him and not the guy behind him.

‘’What happened?,’’ Minho repeated, scanning Jisung’s face to look for anything that could give him an answer.

Jisung let out a shaky exhale and that’s when the tears escaped his eyes, his body trembling and Minho knew that the younger was rapidly coming down from whatever high he had been at. He had seen it happen a handful of times before – with Chan specifically – and the way Jisung seemed to slowly shrink away was a clear sign of the adrenaline leaving his body, causing an inevitable crash.

He had to get Jisung out of here.

‘’Security incoming!,’’ Someone in the crowd yelled and that prompted Minho to let his hands slip off Jisung’s face and into his hand instead. He started dragging Jisung and the younger moved to cling onto Minho, face tucked away behind his arm when they neared the guy.

Minho really wanted to keep Jisung away but there was nothing he could do. The exit was right behind the guy and with security coming from the back, they had no other place to go.

He thought they were going to be fine until they were almost in the clear. The guy let go of his nose and shoved one of his friends out of the way before shooting out his arm. He pushed Minho to the side and tilted his head to look at Jisung, ‘’You’ll see I was right in the end and when that time comes, don’t come crying to me. You ruined that chance when you decked me in the nose, bitch,’’

Minho could feel Jisung shrink even more – combined with a sharp inhale of air - and the grip on his arm grew almost painful. 

Now that he saw the guy up close, he recognized him. It was definitely the guy from the library a while back and it suddenly became a bit clearer what had happened. Well, he liked to think that he at least got the gist of it and for a split second, he thought about punching the guy as well but he realised that it was not the best thing to do. Not if he didn’t want to make this already worse than it was.

So instead, he pulled Jisung closer to him and harshly bumped the guy’s shoulder when they passed. 

No words were exchanged as Minho led Jisung back to the dorms and it was slowly starting to drive him crazy. He had tried to talk to the younger but got no response whenever he tried to ask what had happened. So instead of pushing it, he shut his mouth and tried to ignore the racing of his mind.

It was only when they had stepped into Minho’s dorm that Jisung spoke up.

‘’I’m sorry,’’ The younger mumbled as Minho crouched down to unlace Jisung’s boots.

He halted his movements and looked back up at the younger, the silent tears that were dripping down Jisung’s bruised face sending knifes into his chest. 

Now that the younger’s face was perfectly visible in the bright light of Minho’s dorm, he could see just how messed up Jisung looked. More bruises had shown up now and they were all just as grossly purple and yellow as the one on his cheek. The split in his eyebrow turned out to be a proper laceration and Minho was almost sure it needed actual treatment.

He quickly got back up and pulled the younger in for a hug, ‘’Why are you apologizing?,’’

‘’Just because,’’ Jisung croaked out as he shrunk into Minho even more. He could feel the younger shaking like a leaf and Minho knew that they were going to get nowhere like this.   
He pulled back a bit and tried to meet Jisung’s eyes – a difficult feat because Jisung’s eyes were darting all over the place, making him look like a scared animal.

‘’Baby, you gotta relax okay? You’re too worked up,’’ Minho whispered, pushing the hair out of Jisung’s face.

The younger just nodded and finally met his eyes before he detached himself and wiped his face with trembling fingers - which didn’t really seem to do anything to stop the tears.

Minho had never felt this upset by seeing someone else upset and it was a whole new feeling. It came with a certain anxiety and fear and general distress and so much more and he noticed that he could feel his eyes sting a bit as well.

‘’How about I make you some tea while you change into something more comfortable okay? I trust you know where to find everything because of the little scavenger-hunt you did last time you were here?,’’

And it was as if the sun had finally decided to come out of hiding when Jisung smiled a little and managed to stutter out a watery chuckle, ‘’Yeah,’’

Minho let out a sigh of relieve and shot Jisung a little smile before pushing him into the room, leaving him in front of his closet and making his way to the kitchen. He could hear his closet opening and the rustling of clothes, informing him that Jisung seemed to be functioning somewhat normally.

This was far from how Minho had imagined his night would go. He and Jisung were supposed to be having a good time, hanging out and chatting and to make things a bit worse, Minho had actually planned to properly ask Jisung out tonight - at this point he was fairly certain that Jisung saw him more than a friend as well - but that had obviously gone down the drain.

Minho’s dingy water boiler beeped and pulled him out of his daze. He grabbed a big mug off the counter and managed to find the last teabag in one of his cabinets. That reminded him to buy new ones tomorrow. Not that Minho really drunk tea all that much but Jisung did so he’d have to buy a new pack of them.

He dropped the little bag into the steaming water and slowly waddled back into the room, making sure not to accidently spill the boiling-hot water over his fingers. He wasn’t really a clumsy person but he always had terrible luck and that little saying about bad luck coming in three’s echoed in his head.

Once he stepped into the room, he found Jisung sitting cross-legged on his bed in the biggest grey hoodie Minho owned, along with a pair of obnoxious neon-blue sweatpants Minho didn’t even know he possessed until now. They seemed to fit the younger almost perfectly and that’s probably why Minho had never worn them. He guessed that they had been a miss-buy or left over clothing from when he was younger.

Minho shuffled closer and set the cup of tea down on his little bedside-table before sitting down next to Jisung. The younger was fiddling with the hems of the sleeves and had his head hung low. Minho didn’t really know what to do next. He didn’t really know what the next step would be but then he remembered that he had to do something about the laceration on Jisung’s eyebrow.

‘’Hey, Sungie?,’’

Jisung’s head shot up and Minho had to prevent himself from wincing. It was only now that he noticed the dried blood on Jisung’s eyebrow, painting a horrible picture.

‘’We need to clean up your face okay?,’’ Minho said as he cupped the younger’s cheek softly, running his fingers over the discolorations on his face.

The younger let out a hum and closed his eyes before leaning into the touch, making the butterflies in Minho’s stomach race around like a madman and he could almost _see_ the tension leaving Jisung’s body.

But then he came to the realisation that he had never bothered to purchase any medical supplies. He had gone against everyone’s advise of buying at least a cheap first-aid kit and he really regretted it now. Plus, he didn’t know shit about first-aid. Nothing. Nada.

He wracked his brain for a solid minute and then it hit him.

Woojin.

Minho pulled back and didn’t miss the little whine that escaped Jisung’s lips but he ignored it as he pulled out his phone and went into his contacts.

Woojin was a responsible adult and probably had a first-aid kit in his dorm. 

But then again, Woojin was probably asleep at this time of night.

Because he was a responsible adult. 

So his next best bet was Chan. They lived in the same dorm after all and Chan - even though Minho categorized him as a responsible adult as well - was certainly _not_ asleep this time of night. The guy never really slept.

So he stopped scrolling through his contacts and pressed call. 

Jisung looked at him with a mix of worry and confusion so Minho just smiled at him and used his free hand to absentmindedly draw patterns on Jisung’s knee.

Chan picked up after just two rings and Minho explained the situation without any major details. The older told him he would be over in five minutes – first-aid kit included – before hanging up.

‘’Who were you calling?,’’ Jisung asked as Minho threw his phone on the bed.

Minho leaned over and carefully took the cup of tea from the little table and hand it over to Jisung, who accepted it with his sweater-paws, ‘’Chan. He’ll be over in a few minutes,’’

Jisung just nodded again and blew into the cup before taking little sips of his tea. There hung a strange kind of tension in the room, not quite uncomfortable but stifling, in a sense. At least, that’s what it felt like to Minho - Jisung seemed pretty occupied with his tea and probably didn’t notice.

After a couple of minutes, loud and repetitive knocking on the door broke the silence. Jisung stilled his movements and Minho got up from his bed, made his way over to the door and opening it to find a dishevelled Chan standing on the other side with the famous first-aid kit in his hand. He didn’t say anything as the older shot him a smile before he pushed past him and immediately made his way over to Jisung, crouching down in front of the boy.

‘’Hey,’’ Chan whispered softly, placing his hands on Jisung’s knees.

And just when Minho thought that he had managed to get Jisung to calm down, he flinched at the contact and Chan immediately retreated his hands, an apologetic smile on his face, ‘’Sorry mate,’’

‘’N-no, it’s fine,’’ Jisung replied, placing his empty mug on the bedside-table.

Minho let out a sigh and sat back down on the bed, ‘’Is it okay if Chan cleans up your face?,’’

The younger looked a bit apprehensive and Minho didn’t quite understand the reason for that. He looked at Chan, their eyes meeting. Minho could see the worry in Chan’s eyes and he was pretty sure that he looked about the same.

‘’Sungie, Chan knows what he is doing,’’ Minho said as he took a hold of Jisung’s hands again.

What Jisung said next came out as a mere whisper and Minho was sure Chan hadn’t heard, but Minho had.

‘’I don’t want anyone else to be here but you,’’

Minho’s heart swelled but it was not enough to ease the lingering worry and stress. As much as Minho would have liked to just kick Chan out, wrap Jisung up in a dozen blankets, pull him into his arms and go to sleep, he couldn’t.

‘’Just trust me okay? It’ll be done before you know it,’’ Minho ran his hand through Jisung’s hair and the younger let out a soft exhale before nodding.

It took Chan less than ten minutes to get Jisung’s face cleaned up – the cuts disinfected and a butterfly bandage on his eyebrow. Minho had held Jisung’s hand as the younger hissed whenever the antiseptic came into contact with his skin and even though Minho’s hand had suffered quite a lot, he enjoyed the feeling of having the younger close.

Chan had left right after that and Minho had thanked him before showing him out, promising to buy him a drink the next time they would go out.

And now they lay on Minho’s bed, Jisung’s head on his chest as he stared at the ceiling. He could feel that the younger was still a bit shaky, but he chose not to comment on that. 

The big clock on the wall informed Minho that it was now well past one in the morning but he didn’t feel all that tired. His mind was still going a million miles an hour but he tried his best to will it silent. There were just so many questions and after minutes and minutes of trying to ignore it, he couldn’t stand it anymore.

‘’Sung, what happened back there?,’’ He tried, letting his hands wander to the younger’s head and rake his fingers through his hair.

Jisung tensed and the grip on Minho’s shirt tightened and he wondered if he shouldn’t have brought it up again.

‘’N-nothing, really,’’ Jisung mumbled, burying his head into Minho’s chest even more, ‘’It’s stupid. Let’s just forget it okay,’’

Minho let out a sigh, ‘’Jisung, it’s not stupid if it managed to get you this upset,’’

The younger hummed but did not respond, so Minho took another heavy breath and closed his eyes, not particularly happy about testing his theory about what had happened.

‘’Did he do anything that made you uncomfortable?,’’

Objectively, it was a stupid question. Of course the guy had done or said something to make the younger uncomfortable otherwise the sweet boy wouldn’t have snapped like that, but Minho wanted to know what the nature of it had been.

It was quiet for a bit too long for Minho and he could feel his heart sink to his stomach, a sickening feeling seeping into his every fibre. 

‘’No…,’’ Jisung replied, ‘’Maybe? I don’t know,’’

Before Minho could say anything, Jisung continued, ‘’That’s not really it but it doesn’t matter anyways,’’

Oh, it did matter to Minho. Of course it mattered, but he got this particular vibe from Jisung and it told him that the younger wasn’t going to say more about it. So he decided to let it slide for now and focus on being a comforting presence.

An hour later, Minho was sure that Jisung had fallen asleep – his breathing slow and steady, the grip on Minho’s shirt a bit looser – and he was about to gently push Jisung off of him to get the younger under the blankets when Jisung’s breathing picked up again and the younger slung one of his legs over Minho’s.

‘’Minho?,’’ He whispered.

From his voice, Minho could tell that he was sleepy and probably had been asleep before Minho had moved. He looked down at the sea of hair that was Jisung and couldn’t help but smile.

‘’Why are we friends?,’’ Jisung asked, turning his head to look up at the older.

Minho’s smile dropped off his face as he saw a mix of sadness and exhaustion and it made the younger look so incredibly vulnerable that he could feel his instincts kick in, yelling at him to shield the boy from all the bad things in the world - from all the bad people in the world - and make sure nothing would ever hurt him. 

‘’What do you mean?,’’ Minho questioned.

Jisung turned away again, ‘’Do you, like, actually like me or did you want to get close for… _other_ reasons?,’’

The words stung and Minho did not really understand why. Of course he liked Jisung – be it as a friend or serious crush – and it saddened him that Jisung doubted that. Minho could guess what Jisung meant with _‘’other reasons’’_ and he did not like the younger thinking that it had been Minho’s motivation to talk to him. 

‘’What are you talking about? Of course I like you,’’ Minho replied, ‘’Why would you think I wouldn’t?,’’

The definition of _like_ was up in the air but Minho didn’t bother to do something about it. After all, he liked Jisung in every sense of the word so he let it be up to Jisung to pick either one of them.

The younger shrunk again, voice barely audible, ‘’Because he said that you’ll drop me as soon as you grow tired of me,’’

He went rigid and to say Minho was baffled was an understatement. Whatever the guy had said to Jisung made anger well up in him, making him wonder what the hell the guy’s deal was.

‘’Sung, look at me,’’

Surprisingly, the younger did and Minho’s breath hitched at the sight of silent tears making their way down Jisung’s face again. Without thinking, Minho sneaked his arms around Jisung and pulled the younger up a bit to hug him properly, ignoring the little gasp leaving Jisung’s lips as he successfully pulled the younger on top of him. Despite their intimate position, Minho couldn’t feel anything other than concern for the younger boy and apparently, Jisung didn’t really mind either as he buried his face in Minho’s neck and let out a deep sigh.

‘’Listen to me,’’ Minho started off, tracing circles on Jisung’s back, ‘’Trust me when I say that I genuinely like you Jisung. I don’t want you to ever doubt that. I don’t care what other people say and neither should you. It’s none of their business anyways,’’

Jisung let out a little whimper and nodded, ‘’I trust you hyung,’’

‘’Good,’’ Minho replied before placing a kiss on the younger’s head, ‘’Now that we got that cleared up… Can you, like, move a bit and _not_ dig your chin in my shoulder? It’s kinda painful you know?,’’

The younger legit snorted – albeit a bit watery – and lifted his head back up, his face mere inches away from Minho’s and a last couple of tears escaping his eyes.

And once again, Minho was hit by how beautiful the younger was. He could go on for days, listing whatever made Jisung so dazzling - _intoxicating_ \- and he would definitely start off with those sparkling orbs staring back at him. They never failed to draw Minho in and drown him in their endless stars. It was almost pathetic how much he liked the younger. Minho’s world would just glaze over whenever he was near Jisung, making him solely focus on the boy and nothing else.

‘’So what?,’’ Jisung replied, a little sassy and Minho liked that the fire was back in the younger’s eyes, ‘’That sounds very much like a you-problem,’’

Minho could finally laugh after hours of uncomfortable anxiety and worry and that’s what he did. He laughed like there was no tomorrow and it was liberating, ridding the air of whatever had hung around them. Then the wonderful sound of Jisung chuckling mingled with his own laughter and he was hit by a wave of happiness and when he looked at the younger, it was almost euphoric when he saw Jisung smile brightly – all traces of his previous distress gone.

So Minho just let himself go and cupped Jisung’s cheeks before peppering him with as many soft kisses as he could. The younger made a weird noise that sounded very much like a combination of a squeal and a gasp before trying to pull himself away but Minho wouldn’t let him.

‘’Minhoooo,’’ Jisung whined before giggling.

‘’Jisuuung,’’ Minho shot back, finally letting go of the younger.

Jisung seemed to be glowing, making him look even more ethereal than before and Minho was hit by a sudden epiphany.

He was well past the point where he merely _liked_ the younger.

It sounded too light - too diluted - to describe his feelings. No, he needed a stronger word for that and there was only one thing he could come up with.

Love.

Minho was sure he was in love.

{*}

Minho woke up to a heavy feeling on his chest that made breathing a bit of a struggle. Then he noticed the pressure on his neck but before he had a chance to freak out, he heard a soft exhale next to his ear and he remembered Jisung was here.

He tried to turn his head to look at the younger, but when he did, Jisung tightened his arms around his neck like he was some sort of MMA-fighter. To complete the picture, the younger’s legs were wrapped around Minho’s torso, effectively trapping one of his arms as well and Minho noticed he had his free arm draped over the younger’s waist, right where his hoodie had ridden up. 

His heart did a flip again and he was overwhelmed by this tight feeling in his chest, leaving him a little breathless – maybe the iron grip on his neck had something to do with that but he disregarded it for now – and that was happening more and more lately and Minho figured he would just have to get used to it.

He really didn’t want to wake the sleeping boy up but he was actually starving, even if they had ordered take-out at three in the morning - which was only six hours ago if Minho’s groggy mind did the math right. Because he pitied himself for waking up this early, he decided to let himself enjoy the moment for bit longer until his stomach actually ached from hunger before he wiggled his arm free from Jisung.

The movement was enough to earn him a sleepy whine from Jisung and the boy slowly opened his eyes, his look glazed over but still entrancing Minho and the words had slipped his mouth before he knew it.

‘’Good morning beautiful,’’

Jisung just blinked sheepishly, seemingly staring right into Minho’s soul. It was with the onset of a surge of happiness that Minho felt his eyes sting a bit, but it was all good. To be honest, he had never really felt this happy about being alive and it shocked him a bit coming to that realisation.

He was a passive person, never very ambitious or driven, never fought for things because he had never _wanted_ something and it had been fine. But ever since he had met Jisung, it felt as if he had finally come to life and it filled him with this urge to fight for what he wanted. And what he wanted was to stay like this forever. He wanted to ignore the whole world except for Jisung, to keep existing in this moment. Preferably forever. 

It was terrifying how much he wanted that but the idea that he might just get that if he really tried was enough to make all his worries disappear. 

Jisung smiled at him and Minho laughed at the pure joy he felt before he turned on his side – Jisung allowing him to do so – and letting his finger’s trace the younger’s face. He felt his mood drop a bit when he studied the discoloration on the Jisung’s face. Now that there was proper daylight coming in from the window, the bruises stood out like crazy and Minho wondered how someone could be capable of hurting the younger like that. 

Minho let his hand slide off Jisung’s face and let it sit on the side of the younger’s neck instead, ‘’How are you feeling?,’’ 

Jisung stared at him and the air changed when Minho could see slight panic creeping it’s way onto the younger’s face, eyes growing a bit wider and his brows furrowing together. The sight of it sent Minho’s own heart into overdrive – not the nice kind. 

‘’Jisung? You okay?,’’ he worriedly asked, pushing himself up with his elbow.

The younger suddenly seemed oddly focussed on Minho’s lips and the older could see him soundlessly mumbling something.

‘’Sung?,’’

‘’I’m fine,’’ The younger squeezed out before looking back up, his smile long gone, ‘’I got to go,’’

And then Jisung was out of bed, scrambling to collect his own clothes before making his way to the door. Minho shot up out of bed and jogged after him, very concerned about the way the younger was acting.

‘’Hey! What’s wrong?,’’ Minho asked as he looked at Jisung – the boy hastily pushing his feet into his boots with his back turned to the older.

There was no response and Minho reached out to take a hold of Jisung’s shoulder. As soon as he did, the younger flinched and sped up his movements.

‘’Bye,’’

And Jisung was out of the door, leaving a confused Minho standing in the empty hallway.

{*}

Minho was pacing.

He had been doing so for the past half hour - ever since Jisung’s sudden departure - and he didn’t feel like stopping anytime soon. There was obviously something not right and for the love of God, he couldn’t think of what it was.

Had he gone too far last night? Did Jisung feel uncomfortable after all?

But that didn’t quite seem the case. Not when the image of Jisung practically glowing with joy flashed through his mind. 

Or had he misread the situation after all? 

Minho deemed that impossible as well and he had now reached a point of all-consuming frustration. He did not know what to do about it.

And then it crossed Minho’s mind that, maybe, he had subconsciously taken advantage of Jisung’s need for comfort and that the boy was upset about _that_. The thought of it made his heart sink at the idea and now he just felt plain horrible. 

It was a sickening feeling. One he had never really felt before and combined with the sudden flashes of hot and cold consuming him, he lowkey started to freak out.

Before he had even really thought about it, he was out the door and sprinting towards the elevator. He was bare-footed and he knew that he hadn’t even closed his door, but he really couldn’t care less. He had to see Jisung. Right now.

Of course the elevator was being too slow – the numbers on the display not changing, no matter how many times Minho smashed the buttons on the wall. He let out a groan and turned on his heels, making his way to the stairs at the end of the hallway instead. 

He was vaguely aware of the stares he got from the students he passed and that he was bound to end up on _someone’s_ snap-story but that was fine. What wasn’t fine was that the more seconds passed, the more he managed to convince himself that he had messed up with Jisung for some very unknown reason.

Minho finally arrived at the staircase and practically flew down – his feet stinging as he kept skipping every other step. 

Finally he arrived at the third floor and as soon as he stepped out of the staircase, he was in front of Jisung’s room. Normally he would have been a bit nervous about knocking – because he was awkward like that - but his mind didn’t really work so he rapidly knocked, ‘’Jisung?,’’

He could hear some stumbling coming from inside the dorm – even over his own laboured breathing – and he tensed. 

Before he could do a practise-run of what he was even going to say, the door slowly opened and there was Jisung, his head hung low and an awkward smile on his lips. Minho felt a bit comforted when he saw that the younger was still wearing his clothes and hadn’t felt the need to change into something else. However, it didn’t calm his mind down.

‘’I’m sorry,’’ Minho almost yelled, effectively making the boy look up.

The younger was bravely maintaining eye-contact but the little shaking of his pupils didn’t go unnoticed by Minho and he took a step closer, automatically reaching out to take Jisung’s hands in his own.

Jisung let him and shot a hesitant smile, ‘’Why are you saying sorry?,’’

‘’Well, you ran away so I’m sure I did something wrong and I really like you and I’m scared I blew any chance I ever had with you and I’m very sorry if I did something that made you uncomfortable or mad or upset or-,’’

He got interrupted by Jisung – the boy slipping his hands out of Minho’s grip and placing them on his cheeks instead. Minho stilled immediately, Jisung giving him the softest smile he had ever seen. The younger wiped his thumbs over Minho’s face and it was only then that Minho noticed that tears had slipped passed his eyes and he wondered when that had happened because he never cried.

‘’If anyone should be saying sorry, it’s me,’’ Jisung gently whispered before taking hold of Minho’s hands again, ‘’I’m sorry for leaving like that. It had nothing to do with you so please don’t feel sad,’’

Now Jisung had tears in his eyes as well and that was another thing for Minho to feel sorry for. He just couldn’t seem to stop himself from messing up, could he? He was probably being a tad bit dramatic but it didn’t feel like that at the moment.

He was about to apologize again when Jisung gently tugged him forward and into his dorm and before Minho knew it, they were sitting on Jisung’s bed, their legs crossed and facing each other. 

He didn’t know how his head had ended up on Jisung’s shoulder – the boy’s arms tightly wrapped around him – but he felt himself deflate instantly and he let out a heavy sigh.

‘’So you’re not mad at me or something?,’’

Jisung let out a slow sigh, ‘’Of course not. I could never,’’

The tables had turned and now it was Jisung who was running his finger’s through Minho’s hair, rocking them from side to side in an effort to comfort Minho. It was almost funny how much he felt like a little kid and for a second he almost forgot he was actually twenty and therefor an adult. Whatever that was exactly supposed to mean.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, Jisung humming as he traced circles on Minho’s back until the younger halted his movements and tightened his arms around Minho.

‘’Did you mean it?,’’ Jisung suddenly asked, voice barely audible.

Minho could actually feel the younger tremble a bit and he found himself worried, _again_. Really, he had never been worried this often but somehow every time he noticed something was off with Jisung, his heart would start racing and his mind would go haywire.

So he pulled back and sat up to look at Jisung properly, ‘’Did I mean what?,’’

The younger hung his head, playing with his fingers. He could see that Jisung was hesitant to speak up and he shuffled forward, placing his hands on Jisung’s knees and giving him a reassuring squeeze. 

Jisung only seemed to get more nervous and for a second Minho contemplated shuffling back to give the younger some space but when he tried to, he got stopped by Jisung trapping Minho’s hands under his. 

‘’Did you mean it when you said you like me?,’’

Minho was surprised. 

Had he said that? When had he said that? 

He dug his mind in slight panic and he figured that he actually had.

Minho knew there was no going back now. Well, technically there was but denying it - or trying to play it off as if he had meant as friends - would kind off defeat the purpose and probably only hurt Jisung and him as well, so there really was no other option. He had hoped that the setting would have been a bit more ideal but he reminded himself that it shouldn’t really matter anyways. 

His heart was ready to claw itself out of his chest and fly off into space. Still, he ducked his head to meet the younger’s eyes and just jumped.

‘’Yes,’’

Jisung took a sharp inhale and finally looked Minho in the eyes. 

‘’Are you sure? I mean… you really sure?,’’

‘’Yes Jisung, I’m sure,’’ Minho smiled, the stuffiness in his chest suddenly gone, ‘’I really like you. I have for a while now,’’

And now all Minho could do was wait.

Jisung smiled brightly, leaned forward and placed his hands on Minho’s knees. Before he could register what Jisung was doing, he could feel the familiar feeling of Jisung’s lips on his cheek. It was brief – a soft peck actually – but oh so sweet and Minho was sure he was grinning like an idiot. 

‘’So… this is the part where you tell me you like me too? It would be nice if you could actually say that out loud because then I can ask you out,’’

Jisung snorted and shyly turned his head away, ‘’I really like you too,’’

And Minho was soaring.

It wasn’t as if he had expected Jisung to tell him otherwise, but it was just human-nature to doubt, to think about the worst possible outcome in order to be mentally prepared for that. 

‘’And I would very fucking like it to go on a date with you but I think I need to tell you something first because I don’t want you to find out later and that you stop liking me and just ditch me because that would suck,’’ Jisung rambled, evading Minho’s eyes, ‘’I really don’t want that to happen because I really like you as well and I’m sure it would hurt very fucking mu-,’’

‘’Breathe, Jisung,’’

The boy stopped and took a deep breath, ‘’Sorry. I’m just… scared I guess,’’

‘’Jisung, as long as you aren’t a serial-killer, I’m sure it won’t make me like you any less,’’ Minho replied, ‘’Now that I think about it… even if you were I would still like you. Maybe a little less but you catch my drift,’’

Jisung chuckled, ‘’You are so weird…,’’

‘’I know. You have told me before but thanks for the compliment,’’

Jisung rolled his eyes before he turned serious again, ‘’Promise me you won’t laugh?,’’

‘’I promise,’’ Minho replied.

‘’You better keep that promise because I won’t hesitate to deck you in the face,’’ Jisung threatened but his voice lacked any real bite, a tinge of fear coating his words instead.

Minho just nodded and stuck out his pinkie. Jisung caught onto it quickly and hooked his own pinkie round Minho’s.

The younger took a deep breath and shuffled even closer – by this point he was almost sitting in Minho’s lap – and tuned his head, pushing the hair behind his ear away, tapping on something.

Minho leaned closer to see what Jisung was pointing at and he saw a tiny, moon-shaped thing behind his ear, ‘’What is that?,’’

Jisung leaned back and fixed his hair again, effectively covering up whatever he had stuck behind his ear.

‘’An hearing-aid,’’

Minho tilted his head on reflex, genuinely confused, ‘’What?,’’

‘’I’m d-deaf in my left ear and partially in my right ’’ Jisung rushed out, not waiting to see Minho’s reaction as he hid his face behind his hands before pulling his knees to his chest.

Minho had not seen that one coming.

He had never noticed anything off or particularly odd. Nothing that could even hint him at that. Not that it mattered – of course it didn’t – but it felt like he hadn’t paid as much real close attention to Jisung as he should’ve. Well, he had but maybe not really.

But as he dug his mind for hidden clues, it was suddenly as clear as day and he felt so stupid for missing it.

First, the glasses. Jisung had told him that they could be a hassle and it made sense now. Minho knew jack-shit about hearing aids but he could imagine that it would be very uncomfortable wearing glasses – if that was even possible at all.

Minho now also got why Jisung had suddenly panicked when he had tried to fix his hair before they had gone to Felix. Now that he thought about it, the length of Jisung’s hair was probably also a strategic move.

Why Jisung had ran from him when they had woken up was still a mystery but it could wait.

Without thinking, Minho reached out and gently pushed Jisung’s hair behind his ear, his finger’s brushing past the device. The younger flinched and let his hands fall off his face. Again, Jisung was biting his lip and Minho was actually worried he was going to draw blood.

It broke Minho to see that Jisung was making a real effort to make himself as small as possible, seemingly afraid of what he would say. It hurt to think that Jisung had been afraid about his reaction all this time.

‘’Why have you never told me?,’’ Minho asked, ‘’Did you think I was going to be mean about it?,’’

Jisung just shrugged and when Minho saw the younger’s eyes getting suspiciously wet, he let out a sigh and tugged the younger closer. He sneaked his hands to the back of Jisung’s thighs and managed to heave the boy into his lap. The younger squealed and immediately flushed red before hiding behind his hands again. 

‘’Jisung,’’ Minho broke the silence, ‘’Look at me,’’

Jisung just shook his head but Minho wasn’t going to have that so he pried the younger’s hands away from his face and cupped his cheeks, holding him so that he boy couldn’t look away.

‘’Why in heaven’s name would I care about that? Did you really think that I’d like you any less because of it?,’’

‘’I don’t know… maybe?,’’ Jisung replied, tears now dripping out of his eyes and onto Minho’s hands.

Minho couldn’t stand seeing Jisung so small and sad. It wasn’t right and it made Minho’s heart ache all the more. Especially because, apparently, Jisung couldn’t see himself as Minho saw him.

‘’Jisung…,’’

‘’It’s just,’’ Jisung spoke up hesitantly, ‘’Nobody likes broken things,’’

The fact that Jisung referred to himself as something broken was enough to shatter Minho’s heart.

‘’Listen. I don’t care if you aren’t perfect. No one is and no one ever will. Everyone has their patches and scratches. Yours may just be a bit more visible than others but that doesn’t mean that it’s the only thing people see or should see. You’re smart, witty, talented, funny, cute, kind and so much more so stop feeling like you’re any less than others because of it,’’

It was then that Jisung let out a whimper that turned into full-on sobbing, so heart-wrenching that Minho’s eyes welled up. He wrapped his arms around the younger and Jisung buried his face in his chest, clutching onto Minho’s shirt.

By the time Jisung had calmed down, it was over an hour later and Minho had long forgotten his hunger. Jisung shifted and finally decided to come out of hiding to look at Minho. There were stars in the boy’s eyes but he looked like a complete wreck – especially with the clear traces of last nights’ fight on his face. However, he still looked like the most beautiful person in the world to Minho.

‘’Hyung?,’’

Minho hummed and gently ran his thumb over Jisung’s jaw, trying to get rid of the remaining wetness.

‘’Are you sure you don’t care,’’ the younger asked with a small voice.

For the umpteenth time, Minho sighed.

‘’You’re Han Jisung, and Han Jisung just comes with a hearing-aid. So what? I like you for being you and I would never not like you. I don’t care if being with you means that I have to carry tiny-ass batteries on me just in case you need them,’’

The younger finally smiled and it was so bright that Minho’s brain malfunctioned for a bit. Jisung straightened up and even though his eyes were still a bit too watery, there was that mischievous glint that Minho had come to love so much.

‘’Don’t mock the tiny-ass batteries, hyung,’’ Jisung said sternly, poking Minho’s shoulder, ‘’Those are fucking expensive,’’

‘’… Sung, seriously? _That’s_ what you decide to comment on?,’’ Minho smirked before folding his arms and turned his head away, ‘’Wow, okay. Geez. Never mind my whole amazing spe-,’’

‘’Can I kiss you?,’’

Minho froze - literally and figuratively – and was convinced his mind was playing tricks on him. However, the fact that Jisung’s neck was starting to look like someone had taken some kind of red paint and had gone to town with it was enough for him to realise that he was still sane. Or somewhat. No one was ever completely sane in his opinion.

The younger looked so determined – even though he had now reached the status of tomato – and Minho could hear his blood rushing through his ears. It was as if he was back in high school all over again, getting all nervous about just kissing someone. But even back then he hadn’t felt like this and it was because it was Jisung and not this random ass girl he had ‘dated’ for two weeks. Minho couldn’t even remember her name anymore but he had basically just said yes because everyone had a girlfriend or boyfriend. The only good thing that had come out of it was that Minho figured out he just didn’t like girls.

There was a tap on his forehead and Minho got pulled out of his thoughts. He looked at Jisung and he could see his determination crumbling slowly – his eyes growing wider and his shoulders slumping slightly, ‘’I-I’m sorry,’’

Minho chuckled and brushed the hair away from Jisung’s forehead and ran his thumbs over the younger’s eyebrows as he held his face.

‘’Where did that previous bravery suddenly go Sung?,’’ Minho teased.

The younger lowly mumbled something and Minho wasn’t quite sure if he had actually said something or if it had just been random sounds. The latter was more plausible, knowing Jisung.

‘’You are so cute you know that?,’’

And Minho leaned forward, halting when his lips were just a mere centimetre away from touching Jisung’s. He looked up and felt his heart swell when Jisung was looking back at him, his eyes all sparkly before he closed his eyes.

It was Jisung who closed the gap.

As soon as their lips touched, Minho could feel a weird tingling sensation sneak up from the back of his neck to his head and it left him a bit dizzy and he instinctively gripped the younger’s hips to steady himself.

Jisung sneaked his arms around his neck and pulled closer, shifting up to get as close as possible and Minho was on fire.

Their lips just seemed to fit together perfectly like pineapple on pizza – Minho liked that combo and in his opinion, anyone that didn’t was just too much of a coward to like it – and he was sure that no one would ever compare. And even if there was somebody out there, he wouldn’t trade Jisung’s sweet lips for the world.

Before things could grow too heated, Minho pulled back. Jisung looked even more beautiful than normally, even when he looked like a high school thug. It was definitely the eyes and Minho was sure that there was nothing that could compare to them.

He was aware of how hopelessly pathetic he was but it was fine. As long as Jisung thought it was fine he could get over it and accept that he had become the definition of cliché and cheesy.

He sneaked his arms around Jisung’s neck and threw himself backwards onto the bed, Jisung falling next to him. The younger let out a strained squeal but Minho ignored it and just held on tighter.

Jisung was just like a big fluffy teddy bear – well, a small but big one -, soft and squishy and all things good so now that Minho had him, he wasn't going to let him go anytime soon.

‘’C-can’t… breathe,’’ Jisung spluttered, patting Minho’s arm and flailing his legs about in an attempt to wiggle free.

‘’That sounds very much like a you-problem,’’ Minho laughed, but he still loosened his hold.

‘’You can’t use my own words against me! That’s not fair,’’

‘’The world isn’t fair Jisung,’’ Minho deadpanned.

‘’Okay, wow. Dark much,’’ The younger replied, relaxing in Minho’s hold, ‘’Congratulations on ruining the vibe with your pessimistic view on life,’’

Minho pushed himself up and turned to hoover over the younger. Jisung’s eyes grew comically wide as he realised that Minho’s fingers were dangerously close to his sides.

‘’Minho,’’ Jisung lowkey growled, ‘’Don’t,’’

‘’Don’t what?,’’ Minho feigned ignorance and brought his fingers a bit closer.

Jisung flinched slightly and Minho could already see a tiny smile on his face, ‘’You know I’m ticklish,’’

Of course Minho knew that. However, it was Jisung’s own fault for believing that it was safe to tell Minho that he was. 

‘’Didn’t know that. Let me test it,’’ Minho chuckled darkly.

It was safe to say that Jisung ended up heaving for air crying from laughter.

{*}

Jisung and Minho had skipped their last lectures and had spent the rest of the day lazing around, just enjoying each other’s company while watching the stupidest video’s on Youtube. Game night was still on and as soon as they had walked into Seungmin’s dorm – hand in hand – everyone was all over them.

First came the questions about what had happened to Jisung’s face but they soon turned to their intertwined fingers, practically forcing them to tell what had happened. There were a bunch of stupid questions like _‘’Who confessed first?,’’_ and ‘’Did you kiss?,’’

Minho had choked on his sprite when Seungmin had asked something along the lines of _‘’When are you guys having sex,’’_ and the boy had gotten smacked on the back of his head by Jisung, receiving a scolding from Woojin about how he couldn’t just ask things like that because they were private.

To say the rest of the night had been rowdy would be an understatement. 

The rest of the weekend had been uneventful but fantastic nonetheless. Jisung had basically lived with him that weekend and even though they had spent most of their time doing stuff for school, Minho had felt incredibly happy. Probably because of all the little kisses and comforting cuddles.

Everything felt so right and for once in his life he felt like he had a real purpose, something – someone – to kindle a certain passion for life. The way Jisung seemed to complete him was unreal and Minho still wondered if he was dreaming, even when the younger sat down beside him and greeted him with a little peck before turning to place his bag on the floor.

‘’Stop being so cute,’’ Hyunjin grumbled from across the table, ‘’It’s too out of character for you Minho,’’

It was currently Monday and everyone had agreed to eat lunch together in the crappy cafeteria in the main building. And with everyone, Minho meant _everyone_.

Hyunjin, Seungmin and Minho had been the first to arrive. They had no classes until late in the afternoon and even though Minho had wanted to sleep in, he hadn’t been able to say no to Jisung when the younger had asked him to join. It had actually been Felix’s plan, saying how they hadn’t really seen each other for a while and that they really should meet up for lunch. Which was bullshit because they had seen each other on Friday but no one had had the heart to shoot the boy down.

‘’I agree,’’ Seungmin butted in.

Minho just shrugged and threw his arm over Jisung’s shoulders, ‘’You guys are just bitter about the fact that you’ll die alone,’’

‘’Who says you won’t?,’’ Jisung taunted, wiggling his brows.

Chan suddenly burst out singing some song Minho recognized as being a funeral song and Jisung had the audacity to join in. It was only after Minho had shut him up by placing his hand over his mouth that he stopped. Jisung pried Minho’s hand away and locked their fingers.

‘’I’m just kidding Minho,’’

Minho smiled and leaned in, kissing Jisung and thereby earning a loud groan from Hyunjin. He could feel Jisung smile into the kiss and it was when something got thrown against his head that the older pulled back and turned to glare at Hyunjin.

‘’Get a room,’’

From the corner of his eye, Minho saw Jisung flush a bit and it was amazingly adorable and he could not help but turn back to the younger and give a quick peck on his temple.

‘’Fuck my life,’’ Hyunjin muttered and Minho hissed at him, effectively shutting him up.

The rest of their lunch was filled with useless chatter, giggles and teasing. Jisung was typing away at his laptop – he had an assignment to finish before the end of the day – and Minho tried not to bother him.

‘’Oh guys!,’’ Jisung suddenly perked up, making everyone focus on him, ‘’My bandmate, Brian, is having a party on Wednesday and I asked him if I could invite you guys and he said that it was okay so you guys wanna come?,’’

There was a collective ‘hell yes’ and Jisung lit up, shutting his laptop loudly.

‘’Nice! Be there at around ten. I’ll text you guys where to be,’’

The guys nodded and slowly got up to get to their next lectures. Minho reluctantly gathered his stuff and turned to Jisung, ‘’See you after school?,’’

‘’I can’t. I promised Mr. Yoo that I would go to the student meeting to represent my major,’’ Jisung groaned, ‘’But we can meet up for dinner?,’’

Minho smiled and ran his hand through the younger’s hair, ‘’Sure. I’ll stop by the store to get some groceries after school and meet you at your place at seven?,’’

Jisung hummed in confirmation and gave Minho a little kiss before motioning for him to get up, ‘’You going to miss your lecture if you don’t hurry up,’’

‘’You guys are already being so domestic and I don’t know if it’s cute or disgusting,’’ Seungmin questioned, shaking his head before stalking off – Hyunjin right behind him.

‘’Well,’’ Woojin spoke up as he checked around him to see if he had everything, ‘’I think it’s cute,’’

Then it was just Minho and Jisung and to be honest, he really didn’t want to go to that stupid lecture but education was important. He got up with a sigh before reaching out for the younger’s head. He leaned down to give him a last little kiss, softly swiping his thumb across Jisung’s ear.

Jisung had flinched the first time he had done so but over the weekend, the younger had grown used to it and he had come to appreciate the comforting gesture. It was a silent promise from Minho, that he would stay with him regardless of his flaws.

In Minho’s eyes, Jisung was fine just the way he was.

{*}

‘’Changbin freaked out when I told him I am dating you,’’ Jisung remarked as he scrolled through his phone.

It was Tuesday evening and Jisung had come over to Minho’s room to help clean out his closet. Minho hadn’t really seen the need to do that but Jisung had because, apparently, the older owned too many clothes that didn’t even fit him. Needles to say, Jisung had claimed about a quarter of Minho’s clothes and the older was sure that some of the hoodies that had disappeared into Jisung’s bag were oversized ones and didn’t need to go.

When he had called Jisung out on it, the younger had just shushed him and that had been the end of that discussion. Not that Minho minded though. It was actually very cute how Jisung had blatantly stolen his clothes.

They had watched this random documentary about space after that – Jisung was obsessed with the big, wide, unknown called the universe – and were now laying on Minho’s bed doing their own thing.

Jisung’s head was on Minho’s thigh so the older could see him going through Instagram and he was surprised by the amount of cat-videos he saw. Apparently, Jisung was more of a cat-person as well and Minho told himself to remember to let Jisung meet his cats back home. 

Minho readjusted his position so that he could lean back against the headboard of his bed, ‘’Changbin? As in, Seo Changbin? The tiny dude that looks like he is prepared to kill anyone who pisses him off but is really chill once you get to know him a bit better?,’’

Jisung lowered his phone and rolled his head to the side to look up at Minho, ‘’Yes? He’s like, the only real friend I had before meeting you. Besides Jeongin, but he's still in high school so we barely meet up. But you know Changbin?,’’ 

‘’Not really. We share one class together and we chit-chat every now and then but he seems like a nice guy,’’

‘’He is even though people think he’s scary. He’s just a big softy once you really get to know him,’’ Jisung chuckled, ‘’I just have to act all cute and he does anything I ask of him. He won’t admit it but he definitely has a soft spot for me,’’

‘’Do I need to be worried about that?,’’ Minho questioned, his brow raised in fake concern.

Jisung grimaced and stared of into the distance for a solid five seconds before Minho could practically _feel_ him shudder.

‘’Eew. Okay, no,’’ The younger groaned, ‘’I just imagined it and I feel a bit sick now,’’

Minho laughed loudly at that and Jisung smiled as he looked at his phone again, ‘’And for your information, he’s as straight as a person can be and has a girlfriend,’’

The older couldn’t help but feel _a little_ relieved. Not that he was jealous or something but he wasn’t crazy. He couldn’t be the only one that thought Jisung was cute.

In the midst of his mind wandering, the younger suddenly tensed and shot up, almost headbutting Minho.

‘’What’s wrong?,’’ He asked as he took a hold of the younger’s shoulders and turned the boy to face him.

He recognized the look on his face. He had seen it before but he didn’t know what it was.

‘’Jisung?,’’

The younger was once again focussed on Minho’s lips and suddenly it clicked.

Jisung couldn’t hear him.

And now he finally understood why he had ran away from Minho that one morning.

Minho relaxed and placed his hand on the younger’s neck before moving to his ear. He tapped it lightly and tilted his head. Jisung deflated and nodded before letting out a sigh. Minho just smiled back and gave him a quick peck. 

The younger got up from the bed and walked over to his bag, rummaging through it before pulling out a little package. Minho scooted to the edge of the bed and Jisung sat down next to him, giving him and awkward smile.

Minho rested his hand on the younger’s thigh and gave it a squeeze, hoping it would comfort him. 

Jisung pulled out a little round disk – Minho assumed it was a battery – and reached behind his ear with his free hand. Minho could see his fingers tremble and he figured that he was a bit on edge.

The younger really didn’t have to be but Minho could understand. There were probably not many people who got to see Jisung in his most vulnerable state and he was showing he trusted Minho by letting him be there. It was really simple – just Jisung changing the battery – but it felt like a big deal. It was oddly intimate and beautiful, leaving Minho a bit breathless.

Jisung threw the package on the bed and turned to Minho, sweeping his hair out of his eyes. Minho scooted closer and the words had left his mouth before he could do anything to stop them.

‘’I think I’m very in love with you,’’

The younger seemed to choke on air and fell into a coughing-fit. It took him a little while to regain his breathing but when he did, his face was red, ‘’Don’t tell me you have some kind of fetish for this or something because that would be weird,’’ 

‘’Why would you say that?,’’ Minho groaned, letting himself fall back down onto the bed, ‘’Why can’t you just go all soft and squishy and shy and stuff?,’’

Jisung just laughed and patted Minho’s head, ‘’Well, if it makes you feel better… I think I’m very in love with you too,’’

{*}

It was Wednesday evening and Minho was standing in front of Jisung’s dorm, waiting for the younger to open up. After a few seconds, the door flew open and Jisung practically jumped into his arms, almost knocking both of them over. Minho barely had enough time to catch the boy and keep them steady.

‘’Woah, calm down,’’ Minho huffed out, ‘’What’s gotten you so exited?,’’

Jisung giggled and let himself slide back onto his own feet, ‘’Don’t know. I’m just really happy,’’

Minho was suddenly painfully aware of what Jisung was wearing. Those ripped jeans were back, showing off his sun-kissed thighs again. He was wearing a simple black t-shirt but it somehow looked like a million bucks on him. His hair was wavy and Minho swore he could see a hint of eyeliner framing his eyes.

He hadn’t really meant to do it, but one second Jisung was out of arms-reach and the next, Minho had him pushed against the wall next to his door, lips crashed against the younger’s.

Apparently, Minho wasn’t the only one who felt this rush of desperation. Jisung was kissing him back just as hard and his fingers had found Minho’s pockets. There was a harsh tug and Minho got pulled forwards, his hips now flush against the younger’s. 

This continued for a good while until Jisung disconnected his lips and turned his head to the side, his face flushed and eyes glazed over as he heaved for air. Minho took the opening and connected his lips to the skin on the younger’s neck, earning him a loud gasp.

He moved to the side of the younger’s jaw and that’s when Jisung let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a moan and liquid fire was flowing through Minho’s veins.

Someone cleared their throat and it was as if someone had taken a bucket full of ice-cold water, making Minho fly back and turn away from Jisung.

Turned out it was just a student passing by and Minho let out a relieved sigh. He turned back to Jisung and found him hidden behind his hands again. He laughed and took a hold of the younger’s arm, tugging him with him towards the elevator.

‘’Stop laughing…,’’ Jisung whined, finally coming out of hiding as they waited for the elevator to arrive.

‘’Aaawh,’’ Minho cooed as he pinched the younger’s cheek, ‘’Is my baby all shy now?,’’

Jisung spluttered but didn’t say anything to deny the fact.

They were well on their way to the guy’s house – or Brian, if Minho rememebered correctly – when Jisung spoke up.

‘’Hyung?,’’ Jisung said, squeezing the older’s hand.

Minho turned his head to look at the younger, ‘’What’s up?,’’

It was silent for a bit before Jisung spoke up again, ‘’I want to tell the others,’’

Minho instantly knew what it was that Jisung wanted to talk to the others about. He smiled – happy that Jisung felt close and comfortable enough with the others to share it - and poked the younger’s cheek with his free hand.

‘’I think that’s a very good idea,’’

Jisung beamed at him, ‘’You think so?,’’

‘’I know so. I think they’d really appreciate it,’’

The rest of their journey to Brian’s place, Jisung was basically skipping and Minho melted at the sight. 

What kind of good deed had he done in his past life to deserve such a wonderful person?

{*}

It was an hour later when Minho, Jisung and the rest of the gang had gathered in Brian’s kitchen, drinks in hand and looking at Jisung expectantly. The younger had dragged them all in here while screaming that he had an important announcement to make and they all needed to be present.

The party was in full swing in the living room and the music was so loud that it reached the kitchen, even after Jisung had closed the door.

‘’So, care to inform us why we are here?,’’ Felix started off, taking a big swing of whatever drink he was drinking.

Jisung opened his mouth but closed it again. He repeated this a couple more times and that’s when Minho decided to intervene. He pushed himself away from the counter with his hip and moved to stand beside Jisung, pulling the younger against him by his waist. It was enough for Jisung to relax and he now looked determined – a bit aggressive if you asked Minho – to say what he wanted to say.

He had expected Jisung to bring it up carefully, but the latter just went for it head-first.

‘’I’m kinda deaf,’’

The room fell silent and Minho could see the guys giving each other confused looks. Jisung seemed to catch up on it and decided to elaborate.

‘’Left ear,’’ he pointed to said ear, ‘’don’t hear shit,’’

Felix chuckled and Seungmin shot him a glare.

‘’And the right one,’’ Jisung repeated his previous gesture, ‘’I hear a little more shit,’’

Minho could _see_ the gears turning in everyone’s heads. It wasn’t bad per se – they were probably just processing it and thinking of how to actually respond – but he knew that the silence would freak out Jisung if it would go on for much longer.

‘’Wow baby, so eloquently spoken. Very informative,’’ Minho rolled his eyes but couldn’t help the smile from forming on his lips. He was lowkey – high key – proud of the younger for telling the guys.

Of course they had questions afterwards and Jisung calmly answered them. Much like Minho had expected, everyone was very calm and sweet about it and kept telling Jisung how happy they were he had told them. Somewhere along the way, Changbin had joined in and the rest had introduced themselves. Minho had chatted with him for a bit before they got dragged to the living room to meet the rest of the bandmembers.

They seemed like nice guys but the age-difference was noticeable. After all, the guys were a couple of years older and had just stuck around playing in the club after graduating. Apparently, they had lost their drummer when he moved overseas for his job and that’s when Jisung had joined. It had been a friend of a friend of a friend kind of thing so there hadn’t been auditions or something.

One of the guys had blatantly asked Jisung if he was dating Minho now – which Minho had seen coming because they were sitting on one of the couches, Jisung basically on his lap – and Jisung had proudly confirmed the fact.

‘’Hallelujah,’’ Jae sighed, ‘’I was getting really tired of Jisung wasting our precious time to practise with his ranting. For weeks, no, _months_, he has been going on and on about this guy in the crowd he thought was really cute so I hope he’ll now stop giving us minute-to-minute reports abo-,’’

Jae got cut off by Brian, the latter slapping his hand over the guy’s mouth to stop him from saying more. 

Jisung curled up and his behind his hands again and Minho cooed at him. It was very nice to know that Minho hadn’t been the only one interested before they had ever talked to each other. It made him feel a bit more comfortable about the fact that he had been quite the shallow bitch for initially going after Jisung bases on his looks.

Skip to two hours later and people were now properly drunk. It was also really busy now and Minho was sure he’d lose Jisung in the crowd if he ever wandered out of his sight.  
Which was a real possibility because Jisung turned out to be quite the lightweight and Minho had to cut him off when he noticed that he had started talking to one of the plants in the corner. He had managed to get Jisung to sit down on the carpet with the rest of the guys. Once Minho had sat down beside him, Jisung had sprawled all over him.

"I'm kinda deaf, you know?," Jisung suddenly said, looking around to look the guys in the eye. 

"We know Jisung, you told us before. Remember?," Felix replied, swaying a bit.

Jisung looked confused for a second before it vanished and he shot up, "Oh... yeah. And you guys are still my friends! How awesome is that?," Jisung yelled, throwing his arms up in the air as if he was celebrating. 

The words unsettled Minho. His heart squeezed uncomfortably and he pulled the younger closer to him again. 

"Of course we are. Why wouldn't we?," Chan chimed in, sounding genuinely confused. 

Jisung frowned, "Because most people don't want to be friends with a disabled person. That's what they used to tell me all the time when I was younger," 

Minho froze. This wasn't good. He quickly scanned the circle they were in and saw that he wasn't the only one who was unpleasantly surprised. 

"Wow Felix!," Jisung suddenly yelled, pulling everyone out of whatever trance they had been in, “Did you know that you have sparkles in your hair?," Jisung continued, eyes trained on Felix's head. 

The tension from before evaporated instantly and Minho let out a deep sigh. Felix smiled gently and turned to look at his almost-twin, "Jisung, you put it in there an hour ago. Remember that nice girl who let you help out with putting it in people’s hair?

Jisung frowned before shaking his head.

Changbin snorted and from the corner of his eyes, Minho could see Hyunjin facepalm himself, Seungmin looking at the dancer before following the gesture. Seungmin was a lightweight as well but Minho already knew that. The fact that he copied Hyunjin’s every move also didn’t come as a surprise.

‘’You have glitter in your hair too," Minho said as he looked back at the younger.

"Really?! Does it look pretty?,’’

‘’Yes it does baby. You look very pretty,’’ Minho answered. Jisung hadn’t exactly asked if _he_ looked pretty but that was just semantics. 

‘’I wanna see!," Jisung laughed, his hands shooting up to his hair. He patted himself - probably in an attempt to at least _feel_ the glitter - and Minho melted at the sight. How could someone look so adorable? He didn’t get it.

He soon realised that, maybe, it was time for them to call it quits, especially Jisung. 

"Okay, time to go sweetheart," Minho said as he heaved himself off of the floor and made his way over to where Jisung was sitting on the floor and held out his hand, "Come on,"   
Jisung didn't reply but happily took Minho's hand, letting the older pull him up to his feet and Minho wrapped an arm around his waist, much like what Jisung had done that one night. 

"You know, hyung, I really very fucking love you," 

Minho ignored the statement, knowing that if he didn't he would go crazy. 

"Yup, we really gotta go," Minho stated, "Say bye-bye Sungie," 

Jisung waved dramatically, "Bye my friends! I'm leaving with Minho now!,"

The rest just snorted and waved back. Minho told them to have fun for the rest of the night and dragged Jisung to the door. The younger was surprisingly easy to get into his jacket and they were outside in no-time.

The walk back to the dorms was filled with Jisung asking for kisses – to which Minho happily obliged – and the boy refused to let go of Minho, even when they had made it into Jisung’s room.

Minho went through the whole process of helping Jisung out of his jacket and shoes before leading the younger to the bed.

‘’Let’s get rid of that glitter in your hair and get you to bed okay?,’’ Minho said as he sat down next to Jisung.

‘’But I like it?,’’ Jisung pouted with his eyes narrowed, ‘’And who are you to tell me what to do?,’’

‘’Okay, wow. Sassy much?,’’

‘’Plus, you said it makes me look pretty,’’

Minho melted again and smiled fondly at the younger, ‘’It does, sweetheart, but you need to shower,’’

‘’But I like it when you call me pretty so I really don’t want to get rid of it,’’ The younger mumbled.

Minho chuckled and made a mental note to call Jisung pretty more often from now on, ‘’You’ll always be the most beautiful person to me Jisung,’’

Jisung was still pouting and Minho couldn’t stop himself from kissing those gorgeous pink lips. The younger responded for a few seconds before he pulled away and giggled. He then suddenly pushed Minho back, rolled over and landed right on top of the older. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity to Minho and he found himself lost in Jisung’s eyes.

‘’Even without glitter?,’’ Jisung asked, his voice merely a whisper but so full of emotion.

Minho ran his hand through the younger’s hair, coming down to his neck before placing a soft kiss on his ear. 

There was no way Minho would never like Jisung. 

The boy who had been a stranger, who had grown to be a proper crush. The boy who had managed to make Minho fall in love with him over and over again with just his giggles and jokes. The boy who had so willingly accepted Minho into his life and had shared the most important things about himself.

Jisung was the embodiment of an angel, sent down to earth to wake Minho up and shower him with all things wonderful.

And maybe they would never get their happily ever after – the though of that made Minho’s heart ache and his stomach protest – but he would do anything in his power to make sure they’d get as close to it as possible.

Because he loved Jisung with all his heart.

‘’Yes,’’ he replied, kissing Jisung’s forehead as gently as possible.

‘’Even without glitter,’’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, this took forever to finish :O  
It's currently almost half past six in the morning and I haven't slept yet...
> 
> Anywhoes, thank you so much for reading and I hope to be back soon!  
<3


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